


Crossmare Valentine Special

by BubblyShip



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Apples, Character Death, Crossmare - Freeform, Crushes, Eternal sleep, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gods, Heavy symbolism, M/M, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, Sad, Sad with a Happy Ending, Sanscest - Freeform, Symbolism, Trapped, Valentine's Day, Worshippers, betrayel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:14:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 23
Words: 27,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26220958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BubblyShip/pseuds/BubblyShip
Summary: Cross never did believe he would receive love. Nightmare never thought he would find love.Maybe they both were wrong, on a number of things.And just maybe, they can share an apple together at last.
Relationships: Cross/Nightmare, Sans/Sans (Undertale)
Comments: 50
Kudos: 128





	1. Chapter 1

_Legends speak of the Prince of Darkness, sealed inside the depths of his castle by his beloved brother, the Prince of Light. Though none dare to travel the journey to the castle of shadows, the way is clear for anyone who would be willing to go._

_So the castle remained unvisited, for hundreds of years._

_Until one day a traveler, blinded by the feelings of love, opened the doors to the castle._

Cross was never one to have dreams.

He never really cared about not having dreams, it wasn't very important to life. He would fall asleep on dusk, his tuckered out skull plopping onto his pillow before the darkness would consume his mind, for what seemed like a mere moment, until he awoke the next morning with the sunlight meeting his red and white pupils.

The young skeleton never really belonged in his village. While the other skeletons were short and sweet, he was taller, with a blood red marking running across his cheek as some sort of symbol. He knew not of its origin, for he had had it since birth. And while the others magic often sparked with light blue and orange colors, his was a blood red, gleaming with the color of pure power. Every night, the other villagers would go to sleep with whispers of good dreams, while he would go to sleep with no whispers.

It had been evident from the start that Cross was not a Dreamer. The villagers all followed the mighty rule of the Prince of light, an immortal brother of the holy family, with the name of Dream. The followers of Dream, born with souls filled with light and purity, filled the village focused solely on worshipping Dream. Dream had built their empire from the ground up, warding off the spirits of evil with his holy powers and keeping the citizens safe. He was their god, they were born to serve Dream, thus the name Dreamer.

But Cross wasn't a Dreamer. Dreamers had dreams, he did not. Dreamers used light magic, he did not. Dreamers was pure and happy constantly, and he definitely was not with his short temper.

Perhaps that's why he didn't feel at ease or at home either, because he wasn't born to serve Dream. He was born for something else, something that his village would not be able to provide.

He just... drifted through days, never finding a purpose. Every Sunday, when the church would get down on its knees and praise its leader, he would bow with stiff bones and a dull sense of happiness. Days would turn to a week, month, and eventually year, his motivation dwindling down to its last fibers.

Until, one night, he had a dream.

At least, it was what he presumed a dream would be like, a world within his mind where only he and his leader could access it. That's what other villagers described to him, for their dreams, a place contained within their souls, where they would have adventures, go sightseeing, and even meet their leader there, who would travel from dream to dream of his subjects to ensure happiness.

The skeleton had stumbled through a large and blossoming forest around him, which he knew did not circle his village, with the pink rose petals fluttered around him and a sudden gust of wind.

It was... nice.

He wondered about, unsure about what would happen in his dream. It had only felt for around a mere minute, but the next thing he knew he was being awoken by the real sun once more, the happiness within his dream seeming like a fluttering feeling.

The next night was the same as the others, with no dream, and so after a week of no more dreams returning to the man, he forgot about it rather quickly.

And just like that, it had returned again.

The same forest, the same feeling, Cross had once again been thrown into his inner world. And once again he walked randomly, not finding any other place, but not seeking it either. If his soul wanted him to find a place, he would find it, no need for a hurry or rush.

And so, that dream, he had found an opening.

It was a lovely opening within the trees, with a sparkling river flowing lazily through the side of it, curving back to once again disappear along the sea of trees. The sun sat right above the opening, scattering down upon the luscious green grass that beckoned Cross. But the most eye-socket catching thing was the large apple tree within the center of the forest, with a short skeleton reaching up to pick one of the apples.

Well, at least he was attempting to reach for the fruit above him, but because of his height, he was unable to fully grasp the apples, he was only able to brush them with the tips of his fingernails.

"Do you need some help?" Cross asked.

The other yelped at the surprise, whipping his head over to look in his direction from pure surprise. His light purple pupils focused in on Cross.

"A-Another person..." The male's voice was soft, even softer than his quiet spoken villagers who didn't want to disturb the woodland creatures who would sometimes roam about.

"Um, yeah," Cross said, taking a step towards him, "Pretty sure I'm another person. Are you okay?"

The stranger approached him with confusion before he was standing right in front of him, staring up at him slightly before he rested his hand on his chest.

"Are you okay?" Cross repeated.

"I... I didn't think I'd ever be able to see anyone again, ever since Error died all of those years ago..." The shorter said, drawing his hand away from the other, "But it's nice to meet you..."

"Cross," He said, "And you are?"

And at that moment he woke up, the sunlight battering across his face as he sat up, his mind blank for a moment while his memories of the dream replayed over within him.

He carried through the day faster this time, hurrying to carry his farm products to the local store to sell, the female giggling at his speed.

"Why in a rush, Cross?" The girl asked, picking up his large basket of potatoes, "Usually you aren't very excited to sell potatoes."

"Just have something to do, bug off," He said, picking up the small bag of cold and tying the string around his neck, for safekeeping.

"Well, you have a good day!" She said, waving at him as he went off towards his house to retreat to his chores.

That night, he lay within his bed, a sense of hope bouncing around inside of his head as the shadows casted pictures along the floor. He did want to have a dream again, it gave him a sense of purpose within this dull world.

People were born to serve a leader, and their leader could visit them within their dreams. You could only feel like you had a purpose if you served your leader, since that was what you were born to do.

It felt nice to have a purpose to live.

With the shadows resting over his eye sockets, he fell asleep once more.

Once again entering his inner mind.

Cross was standing inside of the clearing, not having to make his way to it another night. The skeleton that had been there before wasn't in front of him anymore, instead he was laying down on his ribcage, a box within his hands as he flipped through the pages.

"Hi again," Cross said to him.

Once again, the male jumped, his book flying out of his hands and landing a few feet away, closer to Cross than him.

"You dropped this," Cross said, picking up the book and holding it out.

"Thanks..."

So this was his leader?

"So, you're my leader, huh?" Cross asked.

"I guess," He said after a pause, "I didn't expect any more of people like you to even be born."

"What do you mean?"

Leaders were beings with large amounts of power, that protected their followers from the evils of the world. These Leaders often had hold over a large amount of territory, and it was normal for everyone who was born inside of their territory to be born as their follower. It wasn't rare for someone to be born within the wrong territory and move due to their dreams, but Cross hadn't felt any dreams before now, so he had no idea where he even belonged.

"The last follower of mine was a man named Error, the last survivor of my followers. He had a nice wife, Ink, and a child, but he died of old age over what I'm estimating 100 years ago. I haven't had any followers since."

"Then how did you survive? Leaders draw from their followers for magical energy, if you've went for over 100 years... You should be dead fifty years over. And then how was I even born if you haven't had a follower in over 100 years."

"I'm not sure..."

"What's your name?"

"It's Nightmare."

"Wait, I know that name!"

He awoke to the light once more.

But this time, with answers.


	2. Chapter 2

He didn't even bother to get a start on breakfast, today was Sunday so he knew most of the villagers were probably on their way to the church. But he went the opposite way, down the dirt street towards the library on the edge of town, filled with the facts about Dream, also known as the Prince of Light.

But also facts about his family.

Cross had tried paying attention during school and church, trying to see if he could somehow feel excited about serving Dream, but he never did. The villagers constantly offered him the positive side, about how his true leader may just be taking a while to visit him, or how maybe his soul might have been a little slow on developing an internal mindscape for Dream to be able to visit. He tried to take these ideas to heart, but it was difficult.

Probably because he didn't actually have a heart, only a rib cage, but that's besides the point.

History was long and complicated, anyone could tell you that, but the history of the Leaders was even more confusing. Sometimes the history involved other Leaders which have been deceased, other times the history was just hidden from the followers. And Followers didn't even pay much attention to other Leaders, only their own. So, history was always weird and plain confusing for historians who want to document something.

Luckily for Cross, Nightmare was involved in Dream, and this town was filled with books about Dream.

He knew the stories of Dream, he had heard them so many times they would forever be engraved in his mind like letters on a tombstone. Dream had been born a twin, to another named Nightmare, yet another Leader who had disappeared through time. But it wasn't from death, the battle was very popular within his village.

The battle of light vs evil was one that everyone knew, it was a classic. Dream was forced to fight off his brother, Nightmare, who was consumed by his evil intentions, and sealed away with a curse within his castle that would keep him contained for the rest of eternity.

If what this person from his dreams were saying were true, than he was the legendary Nightmare, the only Leader whose rule ended not from death, but from another event. Even to this day, his land remained untouched, since the darkness still contained the territory.

So that meant the famous Nightmare was his Leader?

Only Leaders could access their followers dreams, since it was the souls inner world, so this Nightmare had to be his Leader, that was the only explanation.

None of the books contained much useful information about Nightmare, since he wasn't the focus of them, but they contained enough to give Cross a good start.

Dream had been born a twin, the Prince of Light born with the Prince of Darkness. They had grown up together, splitting their land between the two of them for their followers to live upon. However, Nightmare had grown greedy and tried to take Dream's land too, thus resulting in Dream sealing him and the darkness away to his land for all of eternity. Then Dream continued on to focus more on his Followers, and there hasn't been an incident since.

It was odd, since it was said that all of Nightmare's followers had died generations ago, and that he would be dead because of that. It could've just been a piece of Nightmare's existence remaining from Cross being born by some sort of spell Nightmare could've pulled, but Nightmare was just as confused as seeing Cross as Cross was Nightmare, so that probably was a no.

He'd just ask Nightmare tonight.

~~~~~~

This time, Nightmare too seemed to be waiting for him, with his eye sockets closed as his skull was resting against a tree, his arms crossed behind it as he rested. He looked peaceful, too peaceful.

Well, Cross can't have that now, can he?

It was in Cross' nature to be rude to others, and being a Follower of the Prince of Darkness would probably explain that personality trait. It didn't mean that he hated them, though he usually did hate other people, he just was rude to others because he felt like it.

So, naturally, he immediately crouched down next to the sleeping male, leaned in close to him, and just screamed at the highest pitch he could reach.

You know, like a good Follower does.

Nightmare didn't have the response he was quite expecting. Instead of screaming, or even jumping, his hand just reached over to Cross and flicked him face, making Cross' face scrunch up reflexively.

"I've done that before," Nightmare said, cracking open an eye socket at him with a sly smile, "That definitely confirms that you're a follower of mine."

"What else would I be?" Cross questioned him, sitting down, "You're the one in my dream, after all."

"True, I just wasn't expecting it to be true. You were a little bit too nice when I first met you, so I thought somehow you had stumbled into my little world," He chuckled, "I guess not."

  
"Whatever, shortie."

This must've struck a nerve with the skeleton, because he sat up in a hurry, quickly offended by that comment.

"I am _not_ short!" Nightmare said, "This is the average height for a skeleton!"

"You're like a little potato stack," Cross laughed, tapping the top of his skull.

Nightmare grabbed his wrist and jabbed his shoulder into Cross' rib cage, using his arm and knee to hoist Cross over his body and slam him onto the ground behind him, Cross landing with a screech.

"Who's the guy on the floor now?" He asked, pressing a shoe against his throat.

"The guy with the shortie on top of him."

That comment earned some more pressure on his neck before it was let up, his leader stepping back with an angry look spread across his face.

"Listen here," Nightmare said, crouching down, "I've been alive longer than your entire family tree. I was born with the first ever mortal itself, do you honestly think it's a good idea to speak to me that way?"

Cross was surprised by the sudden twist of personality this skeleton had. Just a couple dreams ago, he seemed nervous, but now he was being more controlling, loud, and rude. He probably was just surprised to see Cross, but quickly got over it. That was impressive.

"Hey, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree," Cross said, "Followers have the same traits as their leaders."

"I guess that's true," He said, plopping down onto the grass, "Sorry, I don't know how exactly to react to you. I haven't spoken to anyone in over 100 years, I'm a bit jumpy."

"I would've loved being in your position, I hate other people."

"I used to think like that..."

The two of them went silent after that, Cross not knowing what else to say and Nightmare not having anything else to say. And that's how Cross woke up, the dream fresh on his mind when the sunlight bathed across his room in a bright glow.

He never moved so quickly in his life that day. Picking his crops went by faster than ever before, he even went to bed an hour earlier than the sun would usually set, yet somehow it seemed to be just as in a hurry as he was, and set at the same time he tossed himself into bed. The day was like a fluttering breeze, over with quickly and almost forgotten about afterwards.

It was weird, actually being excited about something. Usually he had a dull sense of living, but he was excited and full of energy, so sleeping actually was difficult for him with him so excited. He had a big, goofy grin over his face at the thought of talking to his Leader that night, he was so excited.

He had something to look forward to.

He had something to focus his attention on.

He had something to live for.

~~~~~~

A week had passed, and their relationship had become from strangers to friends rather quickly. Nightmare was like him, sometimes harsh, makes dark themed jokes, but just wanted someone to understand him and talk to him. Cross didn't feel in place with his peers, thus the reason he was distant and cold to them, he didn't feel like they would understand how he felt.

Nightmare would always be waiting for him in the field when he would get there, sometimes with a random object. But Nightmare was always excited to see Cross, and Cross was always excited to see Nightmare, so they would sit down next to each other and just talk. The conversations were never meaningful, just random things in the company of each other. But that was okay. Cross enjoyed it. Conversations didn't need to have a meaning to be important to him.

"You're late," Nightmare said when he entered his inner world, crossing his arms and looking up at him.

"Sorry, it was Sunday, the villagers all take turns cleaning the church after the service for Dream," Cross explained.

"Wow," Nightmare said, "I thought Dream would've stopped doing those a long time ago. Guess not."

Cross had known that Dream and Nightmare had been brothers, due to the stories, and that Dream had sealed him to his land, but he never really asked about it. He felt like it was a personal question, and since Nightmare never really talked about it, he never asked about it.

"Were you and Dream close?" Cross asked, starting off slow.

The other looked up at the crystal clear sky above them, a soft smile of remembrance from the past pulling at his face.

"Yeah, as children we were," He said, before his smile fell and his eye sockets closed, "Not anymore."

"What happened?" Cross asked.

"Life."

~~~~~~

"All you have to do is grab it from me, Nightmare."

"Lower your arm, gosh darn it!"

After a month of talking to Nightmare in his dreams, he could say that the two were growing closer and closer together each night. He learned that Nightmare loved fruits, especially apples. He learned that Nightmare liked purple, especially dark purple. He learned that Nightmare was a total loner, and that Cross was the only person he really talks to anymore. He also knew, for awhile, that Nightmare hated him teasing him about his height.

So, of course, he snatched away the apple Nightmare was eating and held it above his head as he teased Nightmare.

"I swear if this wasn't in your head you'd be dead ten times over by now!" Nightmare whined.

Another thing he also learned away that since it was in his own head, he could do whatever the heck he wanted to his surroundings. So, Nightmare's feet were being held down by some overgrown grass, so he couldn't jump up or attack Cross.

"Good thing this is in my little world, huh?" Cross asked, grinning down at him.

"Just give me the apple!" Nightmare yelled, frantically sweeping at the air right below the apple in his grasp.

"You're so cute trying," Cross said, patting the top of Nightmare's skull.

They both froze upon hearing this, Cross not realizing what he was saying until it came out, and Nightmare so surprised by that phrase that he had to process it before he could react further.

"N-Not that way!" Cross yelped, a bright purple blush tinting his skull as he practically jumped back from embarrassment.

Nightmare just kneeled down before pressing his hands against his rapidly blushing face and just screamed into them from pure embarrassment, his soul thumping wildly in his ribcage.

"Sorry, did I go to far with that?" Cross asked, seeing how uncomfortable Nightmare was.

"I-I'm not used to that! Don't do it again!"

"Used to what?"

"That you just said!"

"Compliments?"

"Y-Yeah!"

Cross crouched down in front of Nightmare and gently lifted his hands from his skull, seeing the blush that practically took over his entire face.

Yeah, this was definitely adorable for Cross. That nervous expression, and how short he was, it was practically adorable and he just wanted to pick up Nightmare and hold him forever.

"Has anyone, ever, given you a compliment?" Cross asked cautiously.

After a moment of hesitation, Nightmare shook his head.

"You are such a precious person, I just want to take you to my house and protect you from the world forever!" Cross said, hugging Nightmare, who yelped from the sudden hug.

But he didn't object to it.


	3. Chapter 3

Cross grew to hate the sun after the two months spent with his newfound Leader.

Every night, he was always waiting for his Follower, like he had no where else he'd rather be than with Cross in his dream. Cross was enjoying it, enjoying it so much that he'd start to go to sleep earlier and sleep in until later. His day life was more boring and lonely than it has ever been, the situation opening up his eyes to the fact that he considered Nightmare as his only true friend. Everyone else just was the same, again and again.

He could merely explain it with an example from his childhood, where they had an assignment to paint upon a canvas. His partner, some boy with star eyes, painted a part of the canvas to a yellow. He then asked someone else to help Cross with the painting since he had to go to the bathroom, and the other child just painted the rest of the canvas with the exact same color. Cross than grabbed his paintbrush and painted a black streak across the middle.

This actually explained, pretty decently in Cross' view, his situation. Sure, everyone from the village had good intentions, but no one brought any new colors to the table. They just did the same color, making his life a dull yellow, void of any other exciting and fresh colors. Nightmare felt like that black streak which interfered with the other color, giving him something new, something exciting.

The villagers did notice Cross' change over the last couple months, how he seemed to go from always on time and slow to being late everywhere and in a rush. Now, Nightmare was considered the "bad guy" of the story, so he didn't feel like it was a good idea to tell them. Not to mention it was none of their business.

So the skeleton would just avoid their questions or just outright tell them it was none of their business, and they stopped asking. More and more of his life was spent sleeping, he didn't have any real purpose for living in the village, so what was the point of even spending time doing it?

Why was he even there?

That question had struck him one day, when he was crouched over his crops, a knife in hand as he batted at some pesky roots which didn't seem to move. The question was sudden, out of place. But it made him ponder everything about his life choices, if he even wanted to stay in the village.

It wasn't like he had any purpose there.

He never did. He only lived there because it was where he was born, and that he didn't feel the need to travel. Where would he go? He hadn't known he even had a Leader until recently, so he had nowhere to go, nowhere to be.

Man, his life was depressing.

Most people, when finding their Leader, would just move to their land so they could serve them. Cross had never really discussed this with Nightmare, since Nightmare had been sealed away and he never seemed to like to talk about his past. But he knew where Nightmare's land was, he could go there and possibly even see Nightmare in real life!

When in the dream world, a person's being is just their soul collected into the image of what they looked like. So he was technically talking to Nightmare, his soul to be exact, but never to his actual person in real life, his body, his true self in a sense. When they hugged in his dream state, it was just that, a dream state, not a real, physical hug. He wanted to see Nightmare in real life, be able to pick on his height in real life, and be able to show him some things. For example, he had a small rock collection he wanted to show, and a picture he drew in his childhood years that looked so stupid Nightmare just had to see it.

Nightmare felt like a real friend to him.

And he wanted to be able to see that friend in real life.

Not to imagine how lonely Nightmare must be during the day. He did say Cross was the first person he had spoken to in a long time, so being sealed to his land meant he wouldn't be able to leave and see the world. And because everyone was afraid of going onto his land, he never saw anyone, either. Cross did hate people, yes, but even he would admit that years of loneliness sounded terrible. No one to talk to, no one to laugh at or mock, death was a kinder fate.

With a firm grasp on his knife and his emotions, he made a decision as he hacked at those roots, a decision that he would go to Nightmare's land and live there, instead of his village.

~~~~~~

Nightmare wasn't pleased with this decision, for some reason.

His face down turned into a frown and he smacked the back of Cross' skull, he was sitting down next to him, making him hold the back of his skull in utter shock.

"What the heck?" Cross snapped, one hand rubbing the back of his skull.

"Are you crazy?" Nightmare asked, "Don't do that! You see me enough as it is, you don't need to move in!"

"I thought you didn't hate me!" Cross said.

"I don't, it's just that..." Nightmare paused for a moment, "You can't."

"Is your land sealed to other people entering?"

"What?"

Nightmare looked generally confused, as if not knowing about the state of the curse bearing down onto him.

"Can people not enter your land?" Cross repeated.

"Why wouldn't they not be able to enter it? They have their own free will, and I'm not guarding it, unless someone put down a spell."

"No, I'm talking about you being sealed to your land, Nightmare."

Nightmare still looked confused, as if he didn't understand the curse that was placed on him by his own brother.

"I'm not sealed to my land, where are you getting that from?" The shorter of the two asked.

Cross leaned in closer to Nightmare, who looked confused about the conversation, but also a bit flustered from how close he and Cross was, so the Leader was in a middle ground between the two, facial wise. Did he not know?

"Don't you know about the great fight of light vs dark?" Cross asked carefully, "The Prince of Light against the Prince of Darkness, twin against twin? You against Dream?"

"No, we never had a big fight," Nightmare insisted, "I mean, we've had little bickering here and there, but not with fists."

"Don't you know how you ended up where you are now?" Cross asked Nightmare.

Nightmare froze, his arms crossing nervously.

"That's none of your business," Nightmare said, "Just... Just don't go to my land. As your Leader, you should take that as an order. Just stay where you are."

Cross woke up with that, a frown on his face as he sat up in the bright sunlight, his blanket falling from his body with the movement.

So many questions needed to be answered, and he doubted Nightmare would answer them.


	4. Chapter 4

Nightmare and Cross both knew that he wasn't one to listen to orders.

The next day Cross was packed, having a duffel bag full of needed items for his travels sitting next to the bag. He had found someone willing to look over his crops while he was away, since he probably would return back to the village after the trip. He just wanted to go investigate the truth, since he suspected that both of what Nightmare said and the books about the battle were lies. But, there was still one person who would give him an answer.

The castle that belonged the Prince of Light, Dream.

Dream wasn't a bad person, at least judging by his Followers he wasn't, so Cross figured he could at least squeeze out one answer from him. Cross liked snooping in other people's business, and he was bored with his life, so this would give him some satisfaction.

Nightmare knew this when he went to sleep that night.

"How much do you already have packed?" Nightmare demanded as soon as Cross arrived within his dream world, not even a hello being addressed to the taller skeleton.

"Hm?" Cross hummed, looking over at Nightmare.

"How much do you have packed for traveling against my wishes?" Nightmare asked.

"Already all packed," Cross didn't even hesitate, since he knew that there was no point in lying, Nightmare couldn't stop him anyway.

"I won't ask of you to stop, since it won't work," Nightmare spoke honestly too, sitting down across from him in the grass, "But I will warn you. You won't like what you discover. It's best if you stay in the village, maybe pick up pottery, and we could just talk in your dreams. I know you don't like your village, Cross, but it's the best option for you."

"What's so bad about finding the truth about you?" Cross asked, resting a hand on Nightmare's shoulder.

A hand went up towards his own, and Cross feared that Nightmare was going to remove the contact between them. But instead, the hand rested upon his own, not trying to remove it.

"I'm in your mind," His voice was soft, "I can find out things before you yourself figure them out."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

The next few words sent his mind into such a spiral he woke up earlier than usual, breathing heavily as the realization exploded within his soul and being itself.

Cross went to grab himself a glass of water, the shadows across the floor seeming to twirl around him as his feet shuffled across the wooden floor, the curtains covering the open window fluttering with the soft breeze. Not a sound was made but the sounds of the skeleton, with the water supply being opened and a container being brought down from his table to scoop up the liquid.

He doubted he'd be able to sleep again.

What would he say to Nightmare after that? He didn't know how to react to that, he didn't even know if it was true. He hadn't known Nightmare for long, only a few months, but Nightmare felt like his best friend, one of the few people he could truly connect with. But this... it was unheard of. Yes, of course, people respected their Leaders, but he never thought about this.

Maybe it was because he was never really used to the idea. He never thought about that in that sense, it was always work and survival. Work on his farm, grow his food, sell it for currency, use that currency to survive. That was the way it always was.

Of course, though, Nightmare came in and threw everything out of whack.

Suddenly, everything he thought he ever knew was was flipped on its head. He had a Leader. Dreams did exist for him. He had a purpose in life.

And of course, he had developed a crush.

_"You love me, Cross."_


	5. Chapter 5

He knew of someone who could supply him with a horse for the trip, but he wasn't sure if he should go or not. His head was a blur of confusion from what Nightmare had told him the night before, the words burning fresh within his mind.

_"You love me, Cross."_

He shook his head, trying to shake away the lingering thoughts about it. No way. That couldn't be true. How could he fall in love with anyone, especially Nightmare?

He never went through a stage of dates. No one ever asked him out, he never asked anyone else out. The thought of love was a distant, fleeting one, where it would merely appear for a second before just vanishing with a more important thought that needed to be tended to.

Back and forth Cross paced, his emotions driving him into a spiral of confusion. Everything he thought he knew was burned at the stake about himself.

Falling in love wasn't just something he did. He didn't do that at all, it was the opposite of what he did. If anything, he stopped love. One time there was a couple, some hooded man with one of the star eyed townsfolk, watching the stars together. When the two got close, Cross had let out a wild dog he found in their direction, making the two run away and thus ruining their night as he giggled from their expressions.

Maybe that was what Nightmare was doing, pulling a little trick on him.

If that was the case, why did Cross feel light skulled when thinking about it?

A door creaking alerted him of the horse owner of their town, a short girl with a loud voice, pulling behind her a large horse of which Cross had requested.

"Here he is, a good boy indeed, he can take you wherever you want and then some," She boasted, straightening slightly as if showing off some sort of achievement.

It was just a horse women, calm down.

"Ah, right," Cross said, blinking, "I'm not sure if I'm still traveling or not. I mean, this is my home town and all."

"Well, where do you want to go?" She asked, a hand running down the horse's snout.

"Well, I was thinking about going to the land of the Prince of the Dark, but... you know about that place..."

"You should go."

The response was sharp, and the girl was grinning up at him. Her height reminded him of Nightmare, short yet standing confidently and firm. Unless he was embarrassed or nervous, than he would start to shrink up onto himself in an adorable way...

"But isn't that a bad idea?" Cross asked, narrowing his eye sockets at her.

"I can see this little... glint in your eye, one of passion, or the urge for a pet chicken," She said, squinting as well, "Can never really tell..."

"Anyway," Her colored hands pressed together and then were pointed at him, "You should go, even if it is to that certain area of land all of us are restrained from going to. It's not like you're a Follower of Dream, so it's fine."

"You just want for me to pay for the horse, don't you?"

"Business is hard these days..."

Cross sighed before the gold he had was tossed in her direction, the female's dark hair bouncing as she jumped up to catch it.

"Thanks Cross!" She said, grinning at him, "Bring back my horse safely!"

"I will, yeah yeah," Cross said, not bothering to wave before he left.

~~~~~~

_"You love me, Cross."_

Yeah, that single sentence would haunt every moment of his existence while he both was awake and asleep.

It was almost nightfall, and the skeleton still hadn't made the decision if he should go or not. It was hard trying to decide what he felt. If his stupid emotions weren't so confusing, he would just get one point and figure it all out. But nope, emotions were dumb and now he had to suffer a never ending struggle of figuring out if he had a freaking crush or not.

However, an idea came to mind whenever he would make a large decision.

A pro/con list.

It was simple, really. All he had to do was draw a line down the middle of the paper and list the pros and cons about Nightmare. It should let him see his standing point on Nightmare, and to organize his thoughts. Then he could burn the paper before someone finds it.

Yeah, if anyone found out he'd be dead ten times over from double embarrassment.

So that's what he spent some time on, his hand writing in a frenzy as pros and cons were spread across the sheet. With a whiff of breath, and an aching hand, he backed away to look at the final product.

_Cons:_

_-Too much of a nervous wreck_

_-Is hiding this from me_

_-Doesn't want me to come and see him_

_-He may be pranking me_

_-Too precious for anything and has to be protected_

_Pros:_

_-Is pretty cute_

_-Really cool friend_

_-Like, really cute_

_-Short_

_-Precious_

_-He has a freaking castle_

_-Likes reading, like me_

_-We get along_

_-He understands me_

_-I would totally marry him if he'd let me_

Cross stared at the last one on his list for a moment before he removed his presence from his chair before curling up on the floor into a ball, proceeding to scream into his boney hands from the utter embarrassment from his existence itself.

He wrote that down.

He didn't figure out that he wrote it down.

He wrote it out of instinct.

He was totally crushing on Nightmare.

He groaned loudly before rolling to his other side, his bone starting to hurt from laying on the harsh wooden floor. Of course this happened, of course he developed a crush on the one person in his life who decided to remotely become his friend.

Of course.

Well, it was obvious now, he had a full on crush, not just a baby one, he did want to marry Nightmare. He could already imagine how adorable Nightmare would look in a black wedding dress, how annoyed he'd be, how he'd probably stumble in the heels he'd be forced to wear and cursing the whole way up before tripping and landing on Cross...

Focus, Cross, focus.

Now that the issue of whether or not Cross had a crush was fixed, he just needed to figure out what he was going to do now. What would he say to Nightmare that night? Nightmare already knew.

Nightmare already knew...

Oh man this was embarrassing for him...

If someone could just erase him from existence, that would be great.


	6. Chapter 6

Cross had decided to leave the next morning.

He didn't go to sleep that night, out of fear of facing Nightmare with his newfound information. He had no idea what he would say, or how to even handle it. So, as a professional with dealing with problems, he used his one true talent to deal with this situation.

Avoid and run away from his problems.

This time, with a horse!

Cross had spent the time he was using avoiding Nightmare to do something productive that would also help keep him awake, and that was preparing for his trip. He made sure enough food was packed, that his bags were all secure, and also made sure to feed the horse that was rent out to him for a week. If he did the math right, it would take a day to get to Dream's castle with a horse including a nap that he would have to take since he couldn't stay up forever, he did need sleep, no matter how much he didn't want to confront Nightmare he wasn't going to drive himself mad from it. Then he could spent the first half of his day talking to Dream, and the second half traveling to Nightmare's castle before getting a full nights worth of sleep. And then he would talk to Nightmare, and maybe even stay for the night again. Then he'd spent the last day traveling home, so it should only be a 4 days journey if his math was correct. It gave him a 3 day make up in case there was a storm of he took the wrong path.

With everything planned out, Cross was very confident (and also tired) for the road ahead, having enough food to last him two weeks if something went horribly wrong, his magic in case someone or something attacked, and some equipment in case he needed to get over some tough terrain, which he doubted he would need. This trip was all planned out, Nightmare didn't want to have to deal with any new surprises, he wanted to get there as quickly as possible. He actually had someone he wanted to see for the first time in a long, so he wanted to get there before the girl freaked out on him for taking her horse too long.

He was out of the town so quickly he doubted anyone would even knew he was gone until much later. It was a small town, and he lived on the outskirts, so he only had to pass a few houses before he was already greeted with the forest. His horse started to run once its hooves met the dirt road, Cross leaning down so he wouldn't fall off.

The bright sunlight shone down upon his back as he made his way down the path, his duffle bag bouncing off of the side of his body as trees flew past him. Memories of his dreams started to replay within his head as he thought about Nightmare, as he thought about how exciting it would be to see Nightmare.

~~~~~~

_It was after a particularly rough day that Cross wasn't in the mood for any crap. He had some problems with his crops, not to mention how someone was being annoying about him not wanting to go to their church to worship their leader, so he just wanted to cool off._

_His mind was different that day, though._

_There was a sound of distant rain, and instead of the bright light above him there was dark clouds threateningly towering above of him. The air seemed more dark and dreading, with a fog covering the darker trees in the distance, seeming to swirl slowly around his position._

_"Wow, you're not in a good mood," Nightmare's voice laughed._

_Nightmare was leaning against a tree, a light smile on his face as he watched Cross' face with curiosity. Then it fell, a concerned look taking the reins._

_"You okay?" Nightmare asked, "You seem pretty down in the dumps."_

_There was one last thing in the back of his mind that also drove him to be mad, a question that was brought up from the depths of his soul from anger and confusion._

_"Why didn't you show up earlier?"_

_Nightmare perked up at the question, straightening from the tree._

_"What?" He asked._

_A distant boom of lightning stroke the air as rain started to shower down upon Cross, but not Nightmare, since he was protected by the tree._

_"All my life I thought I wasn't worth anything," Cross finally snapped, "I-I didn't think that anyone cared about me. I grew up alone, had to grow freaking potatoes just to get by... do you know how hard life was with thinking you wouldn't be able to serve a purpose like other people?"_

_Nightmare was silent as more thunder boomed in the distance, a symbol of Cross' anger._

_"DO YOU KNOW?" Cross snapped, his fists shaking by his side, "DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT WAS LIKE?"_

_"I..." Nightmare said._

_"NO!" Cross yelled, jabbing a finger at Nightmare as some tears rolled down his face, "YOU DON'T. L-LEADERS ARE SUPPOSED TO SUPPORT THEIR FOLLOWERS, I WAS LEFT ALL ALONE ALL MY LIFE!"_

_"Cross, I-" He said._

_But Cross didn't let him finish._

_"You don't get it... " Cross sniffed, "Everything was terrible all my life. I never made friends, I couldn't. I had no reason to live... I thought about ending it... What was the point? What_ _is_ _the point...?"_

_"Don't you dare say that!"_

_Nightmare stormed over to Cross and grabbed his shirt pulling him down to his height. His hands were shaking from anger, as more thunder boomed, closer to their location._

_"Don't you ever say something like that!" Nightmare said, "If you even think like that again I'll kill you then bring you back to life to kill you again, gosh darn it. I didn't have control over seeing you or not, okay? But if I knew there was an awesome person like you that I could talk to, I would've tried to find you earlier."_

_Lightning flashed closer to them, and the flash of light allowed Cross to see Nightmare's face in full detail. Tears were streaming down his face as well._

_"Everything was terrible before I met you..." Cross sniffered._

_He lunged forward and drew Nightmare into a hug, the lightning striking once again, dancing light across their soaked bones._

_"Same here..." Nightmare sighed, resting his arms on Cross' back._

_And so they stood there, under the rain as they both cried tears for themselves and each other._

_And for Cross, that was alright._


	7. Chapter 7

"You were avoiding me, weren't you?"

As soon as Cross has entered his dream world, Nightmare didn't even give him a second before asking that question. Nightmare looked a tad bit irritated at Cross, his frustrated frown downturned on his face.

"Kinda..." Cross answered honestly, rubbing the back of his skull.

"Why?" Nightmare asked, "I was waiting, waiting all night, and you didn't show up."

"Oh..." Cross trailed off, "Sorry."

Nightmare was sitting with his spine against the tree, looking down at his lap. Cross hesitated for a moment before sitting down next to the tree next to Nightmare, not looking over at him.

"You're the only person I really see anymore, do you know that?" Nightmare asked.

"I had a general idea, yeah," Cross said quietly.

"Then why didn't you show up last night? Were you embarrassed because of your crush?"

Cross tensed up at the word before a purple blush spread across his skull, pulling up his legs to press his skull against.

"Yeah..."

"Don't do that."

Cross glanced up before looking over at his Leader, who was looking off into the forest with his hands at his sides now.

"Please, don't be ashamed for something you can't control," Nightmare said, looking back over at Cross, "I... I missed you a lot. And I want you to spend your life with me, Cross."

When Nightmare had looked at Cross, the Follower could notice the light blue tint of a blush spreading across his face. They made eye contact before Nightmare smiled awkwardly at Cross, who did the same back.

They both had no idea what they were doing, but it was fine. They'd stumble through this, together.

And so Cross lightly placed his hand upon Nightmare's, who just smiled at him with a bigger blush than before. They didn't say much after that, but neither of them needed to say anything more.

It was a mutual understanding between the two, after all.

There was a sad tone in the air as they both sat with their blushes and hands intertwined, both of them knowing that a love like theirs wouldn't work in this state. Only being able to see each other through fleetings dreams of the night once the sun left the sky, never being able to truly hold each other, to hug and hold hands. But the knowledge that Nightmare held was far worse, knowing that no matter what, they would never be able to be together in real life.

But he would enjoy it while he could, even if it wouldn't last forever.

~~~~~~

He reached Dream's castle just when the edge of the sun had touched the edge of the land in the distance, the hue of pink and orange dancing across the once blue sky. The castle seemed to loom above him, gold and blue decorations decorating the clean grey stone walls. There was banners and flags decorating the walls, along with newly bloomed flowers surrounding the castle. It looked nice and innocent, like he expected, but there was no people or monsters guarding the castle, or even anyone standing near it.

He slowed down his horse before hopping off of him, taking in the view more as he was closer and not moving, a hand lightly patting the horses side to keep him there. With the leash in the other hand, Cross led his borrowed horse to a nearby tree and tied the rope around the bark.

There was no one guarding the door, no one to even escort him to see Dream, that was extremely odd. Dream had plenty of Followers, they all would be extremely willing to do this for him. Was he just that trusting that he didn't feel the need to have it guarded, or was he just that powerful?

Cross knocked on the door, expecting for someone to answer from the inside, some sort of maid or butler.

But nobody came.

Instead, the door creaked open under his hand, revealing an empty hall with a red carpet draped across the wooden floor with large brown wooden doors covered the walls, along with candle holders with recently lit candles that were barely even melted on them. The only sounds from within the hall was Cross' light breathing and the light creaking of the door.

"Hello?" He called out, his voice echoing down the long hallway.

Silence only responded back.

Okay, this was weird, he wasn't going to lie.

Cross took a step inside and lightly closed the door behind him, trying to figure out why no one was there. Was everyone on break? Or did he just not have any servants? That wouldn't explain why everything was so clean though, since one person couldn't keep an entire castle of this size clean.

The staff might've just been on a lunch break or something, he'd just have to find someone so they could lead him to Dream. It was unlikely that his staff would kick him out, since Dream was known for how nice he was. Which was why he was going to Dream for answers about Nightmare, since he would probably give him real answers.

Well, hopefully, anyway.

So Cross started his adventure through the castle, peaking into rooms for any other form of life. However, it was like a wasteland, with no other people in any other room or any signs of people in rooms. Every room was clean, too clean, and it was slightly unnerving judging by how Cross hasn't seen any signs of servants, either. Nothing was out of place, everything was perfect.

Too perfect.

He didn't like this, at all.

Rather Dream was some sort of clean freak, or something weirder was going on.

The skeleton found a staircase down the hall, with a large golden chandelier hanging from the ceiling above him enchanting the room with a soft golden glow with the candles placed on it behind the crystals decorating the outside.

Why was everything in this castle so nice and tidy, but no one was around.

Cross had given up yelling, so he simply climbed up the steps slowly, his loud footsteps echoing the room. It was deafening compared to the eerie silence that seemed to penetrate the castles interior. At least outside of the castle there was the animals and trees, but it was just pure silence inside. No animals, no people, just Cross confusingly looking for the owner of this castle.

He entered another hallway, one which looked identical to the last one, except for two small details that made him pause from surprise.

The first being a door painted in both purple and blue, both of them swirling to the middle.

And the second being that the door was wide open.

So, he peeked inside.

Why wouldn't he? He was a snoopy person after all, and he basically snuck into the castle against the owners knowledge. Of course, it wasn't that hard, since not a single soul was guarding it, but still. He got that far, might as well invade more. Not to mention how since it was open, there could be someone inside.

But once again, it was void of any living being.

Except for this time, this room wasn't fully clean.

It seemed like a bedroom, with two twin beds sitting only a few feet apart from each other. One was decorated with blue and gold, like the castle, and the other was decorated with a dark purple and black. They both seemed like childrens beds, too.

Nightmare and Dreams bedrooms as children.

Cross took a step inside, looking over the black and purple bed. There was items scattered across the bed, things such as books and random objects. He made his way to the bed, which was nicely made, while the blue and gold one was it's blankets gathered at the edge of the bed.

The first thing he picked up was a drawing on a piece of paper, which honestly looked like a child drew it, probably because one did. It was of two young skeletons, presumably Dream and Nightmare, holding hands under an apple tree, with the words " _Hope you feel better Dream!_ " written sloppily at the top. Circles of water dotted the paper, and the edges were wrinkled, not adding to how old the picture looked. It seemed that someone had gripped the edge and cried at the picture, for whatever reason.

And at that moment, he felt a hand grip his shoulder.


	8. Chapter 8

A hot cup of tea was steaming in Cross' hands as he looked up at the owner of the castle, who had gripped his shoulder before.

It was a skeleton with the likeness of Nightmare, an obvious twin to the Leader. He had the same face, the same pupils and innocent type look to him, the same height too. They were sitting in a large kitchen that Cross had seen on his adventure throughout the castle's bottom floor. The windows, like all of the others, were covered by curtains, which Cross had only noticed when Dream had to light up the candles since they had went out. Dream finished pouring himself a cup of the apple flavored tea, sitting back in his chair.

"So, let us continue the discussion from earlier in which we were indulged in," Dream said, crossing his legs as he smiled sadly at Cross.

~~~~~~

_Cross had been surprised to turn around to see a man dressed in robes inside of the bedroom, who was gripping his arm with a golden gloved hand. But, when Dream had noticed Cross' skull expression, his hand lessened from his shoulder before dropping at his side._

_"I never thought I would gaze upon that expression again," Dream had said at the time as he gazed upon Cross, "I can tell, you are a Follower of my brother, Nightmare, are you noy?"_

_"I am," Cross agreed, "You can tell because me and Nightmare have similar facial expressions, huh?"_

_"It is, I must agree with that statement," Dream spoke in a formal tone that made Cross' eye socket twitch._

_This was going to get annoying pretty quickly, wasn't it._

_"You're Dream, huh?" Cross asked, leaning over the Prince of Light, "I figured you'd be more... holy."_

_"And you must be Cross, the townsfolk from your town have spoken concerns when discovering your disappearance to me," Dream spoke, motioning for Cross to follow him as he made his way out of the room._

_"Wait, where are we going?" Cross asked._

_"It would be best, for the both of our presences, if you accompany me to the kitchen for some brewed tea," The Leader said, "Oh, and you should set down that picture or fold it up, make sure not to discard of it please. It has plenty of meaning to me."_

~~~~~~

And so, he ended up within the kitchen with Dream, who sat across of him from the large island spreading across the middle of the kitchen.

"So, my old acquaintances from my old town told you about me being here, huh?" Cross said.

"They recognize you as a friend, do you not towards them?" Dream asked before shaking his head, "How foolish of me. You are like cross, you are indeed a Follower of him after all."

"The same can't be said about you," Cross said after taking a long sip of the tea, hot sweet apple flavor filling his senses.

"Oh?"

Dream sat up straighter, a curious expression dancing across his face. His cup sat untouched next to him, in reach, but he never did reach for it. Perhaps he wasn't thirsty, or perhaps he just wasn't in the mood for the apple flavored substance. Either way, it remained untouched.

"How so?"

Cross inspected him for a moment as his fingers danced around his own cup, the apple fragrance from the steam coming from the drink rather strong. Some light from the sun outside sprinkled in through the slit between the curtains on the window, impacting Dream but never touching Cross.

"Everyone from the village always has this happy go, carefree attitude while you seem so... dull..." Cross said, unable to find words to describe it.

Dream glanced over at his cup before pushing it away, leaning on his elbows to get a better look at Cross.

"I apologize, I haven't spoken to anyone in a very long period of time," Dream said, "But may I ask, why you were in my bedroom?"

"I was looking for you," Cross spoke honestly, "And I saw the open door, so I figured that someone might be in there."

"But, of course, the room lacked myself. So why did you walk in anyway?"

"It looked like Nightmare's room, so I was curious."

"Have you spoken to Nightmare recently?"

"Earlier today, actually, when I took a nap. Why?"

There was silence before Dream trimmed the cups top with his fingers, leaning against one hand before he picked up the cup finally and held it near his teeth.

"I was just pondering an idea..." His tone was low, "But, perhaps another time. You came here with intent, no?"

"I did," Cross agreed, pulling out the picture before flattening it out over the counter, "It's about your brother, if you don't mind answering."

"Of course, I would not dare hide anything from his Follower, you," Dream said, the drink being set down again.

Cross surveyed Dream before deciding to start off slow, since Dream didn't seem to be in a good mood to answer questions. He seemed like Cross before he met nightmare, dull, void of happiness or hope.

"Were you and Nightmare close?"

"Yes," A light smiled played at his teeth, "Nightmare was my only friend. One time, I ended up getting sick from eating golden apples as a dare Nightmare gave me, that is why Nightmare drew that image from the bedroom. He cried ever so much and I wasn't sure what to do to help him stop but get better."

"Is that why this is covered in tear stains?"

"Those are mine."

Cross fell silent at the realization, looking down at the paper.

"I don't know what happened," He couldn't muster a voice higher than a whisper, "But I can tell you both were close. So, even though Nightmare already confirmed it, I can tell there never was a fight between you two, huh?"

Dream stood up before making his way to the windows, his hands intertwining with the bright red curtains before throwing them open, sunlight flooding over Dream's figure. And with the sunlight from the sun tucked halfway over the horizon, he turned towards Cross and spoke.

"There was a fight, Cross. One where we had to choose a decision that changed us both."


	9. Chapter 9

Magic stirred around the kitchen as a large pot of boiling soup was prepared, Dream's light yellow magic whirling around the air as he created a stew made from carrots, onions, broth, etc. Ingredients were being cut mid air before plopping into the boiling liquid below, some salt being sprinkled in as well.

"So, you handle everything in the castle yourself?"

Cross was now leaning against the counter, the cup of apple tea still within his grasp as he watched Dream mix the soup with his own two hands, not with magic. Light illuminated from the open window and cast a bright glow over his body, his eye sockets focused down on the soup.

"It does indeed help distract me, yes," Dream said, "I never felt fine after what happened so many years ago, in which caused me to fire the staff and live alone inside of this castle. It just never quite felt right for me to open the curtains and to make contact again."

"What even happened?" Cross asked.

Right after Dream had thrown open the blinds, he had spotted how the day was almost over and decided to make a stew before they would both head off to bed, and so that way Cross could speak to Nightmare and so Dream could speak to his Followers that night. Cross offered to just eat his own food he brought, but Dream insisted that he could instead just feed him, he was a guest after all.

"We were raised together, by our first ever Followers," Dream explained, glancing over at Cross as he took a small sip of his tea, "They were ever so happy to serve us, but we were only mere children at the time, ignorant to the world and our purposes in life. Sometimes we would run through the castle corridors, laughing as we would play games of tag and the blessing game we came up with as kids."

"Blessing game?" Cross questioned, slightly tilting his head.

Dream smiled slightly, some more carrots falling into the stew.

"A game we came up with, a different form of tag that was slightly more advanced," The Prince of Light explained, "Nightmare would try to tap my head, and I his, anyday, everyday. We would play it randomly at any time, once I was even awoken to being tapped on the head. If he tapped me on the head, I would be 'unblessed', as we called it, until a Follower of mine would tap my head, twice if I may add, and I would be blessed. The same went for him, only in a reversed manner. I would bless him, and he had to receive a double tapping from his own Followers in order to be restored once again. If you were blessed or unblessed, then you couldn't tap the other until restored to your original state. There was never a winner, but we cared not. It was just a fun game."

"That sounds nice," Cross said, smiling.

"If you could," Dream said, "The last time I saw him, Nightmare had been blessed. Tap his head, twice, one more time. It... It will make me feel better knowing the game has been finished where we both are even."

"I will."

Dream nodded with his usual sad smile, looking down at the combination of ingredients below him before he continued the story of what happened in the past.

"Leaders all serve a purpose in the world, if you were not aware," Dream started again, "That is why we live as long as we do. We keep the earth protected, as you are aware."

"I have a general idea."

Dream motioned his hand, which was glowing with his light yellow magic residue, and a bag of potatoes floated over and hovered above the counter.

"Would you like some potatoes?" Dream asked.

"Not anymore," Cross rejected, "I've had enough of it."

Dream shrugged, stating, "If you say so."

The potatoes were placed back into the cabinet, but farther into the back to be forgotten, in sight, but never used.

"To continue my story," The Leader said, "Nightmare and I, unknowingly, served a purpose for the world. The Princes of Dark and Light, when we first heard these to be our titles we were happy, ecstatic that such an honorable name would be given to us. Even as our age increased, and we figured out about our eternal life after some Followers died, we still remained close. We had such a close relationship, we went everywhere together, even as we reached adulthood. We even slept in the same beds, sometimes we would push them together and sprawl out over the covers. I understood him ever so perfectly, and he I, at least that is what I enjoy to think."

He paused, the heat simmering down at the stew reached completion. Dream floated over two bowls as he prepared the dish setting them down at the table before both he and Cross returned to the table and sat once more.

"I can tell you both were close," The tall skeleton said, "What happened? Why did you have to seal him to his land? Why did you get into an argument?"

"Cross, I never sealed him to his land, there was never a big fight of Light and Dark," Dream said.

"Yes, I know that last part," Cross insisted, "So, what did happen?"

"Nightmare... had a bigger burden than I did, as his name states," Dream was slow in his speech, knowing that he would have to thoroughly explain everything for Cross to understand, "As the Prince of Light, I have to bear everything that comes with that specific title. I have to ensure my Followers are happy, and in order to do that I have a containment of a large amount of positive energy inside of my soul, which I distribute out towards my Followers. The world must always remain in balance, which is why both Nightmare and I had opposite personalities and powers. Instead of positive emotions, he bore negative, angry ones. Thus the name Nightmare. He would give his Followers nightmares in order to retain his powers."

"But he hasn't given me any nightmares," Cross said, looking down at his hands, "Has he?"

"No, he does not require to anymore, due to what we were forced to do," Dream explained.

"What did you do? What choice did you have to make?" Cross demanded.

"I will tell, be patient," Dream said, "But, context is required. You see, there was a women, quite like you, of no Leader origin in her childhood days. Due to this, she grew bitter at the world, I tried to help her, but it was of no use, she was already too far gone. She never discovered her Leader, unlike you. Her name, of which still remains in my memories today, is Maledizione."


	10. Chapter 10

_The sky twisted with dark grey clouds, foreboding of the misfortune that would inevitably take place. The forest surrounded the small hut of which was placed on the edge of their land, Dream and Nightmare were full grown adults at this point, having watched many generations of their Followers come and go, but even though their bodies were old their understanding of the world was still quite young and ignorant._

_The woman with the label of Maledizione was young, with silky short black hair and fierce blue eyes. Yet, even with her fierce look, she swayed and glided from room to room, each room filled with tables crowded with different potions and liquids atop. Dream and Nightmare felt bad for the woman, who was in her early twenties, for she had no Leader at all, no purpose to serve. As a result, she had dedicated herself to studying magical liquids known as potions, an idea given to her by Dream himself. 'Why don't you study some potions?' Dream had inquired when she was only of 15 years, 'You could help others when sick or in need.'_

_It had been eight years since that day, and her whole life had revolved around potions. The only books she owned were about potions, beakers filled with different things were in every room. At random times the twins of Light and Dark would visit her, and she would always greet them with a small wave and the nod of her head. Sometimes she wouldn't even talk to them, but they would tell her stories just to talk to her._

_They both had plenty of stories to share._

_And this day had started off no different than the rest, the Leaders entering her back door since the front was crowded by boxes of ingredients. Maledizione was reading a book with glasses on her face, her firm eyes glancing up at the two as they entered._

_"Hello!" Dream said, wildly waving at her the best he could._

_She didn't respond, but Nightmare waved less excitedly at her anyway as Dream stepped over a small crate full of bottles on the ground, sitting down at the chair next to her._

_"What are you reading today?" Dream asked, peering over her shoulder._

_"It's a specific mixture for a specific potion," She mumbled, not looking up from the material, "Sleeping potion, in case someone gets a disease."_

_"Oh wow, that seems really cool!" He said, his pupils sparkling with interest as he gazed upon the book within her grasp._

_"What would you even use a sleeping potion for?" Nightmare asked, sitting down on the other side of her._

_"People who are sick and have no cure, it pauses their body in time, and traps their soul, a curse," She explained more thoroughly._

_"Oh, you're looking at the darker potions, huh?" Nightmare asked, "Curses instead of healers."_

_"Just don't use them for evil," Dream laughed._

_"Not too much evil, that is," Nightmare agreed, "Maybe for a little prank, as long as you wake them up sometime shortly after. Is there a counter spell?"_

_"This is the section of the book where all of these have no known counter spells," Her response was sharp, much more interested into the conversation than before, "So if someone created this and decided to use it, they wouldn't be able to escape."_

_"H*ll yeah, let's make it and use it on that one guy who ate my steak," Nightmare said, leaning in._

_"No, let's not make it!" Dream quickly said, attempting to push him away._

_Nightmare jerked away from his hand, since it was near his skull and he didn't want to get tapped. Neither of them had been tapped since Dream has just been blessed again, so they both were on equal terms and were able to attack at any moment. Dream grinned widely at him while Nightmare narrowed his eye sockets, challenging each other to a duel._

_"Do you really want to do it here?" Dream challenged, slowly standing up from his chair, scraping it across the wooden floor._

_"Doesn't matter, I'll win either way," Nightmare giggled, standing up slowly as well._

_They both stared at each other for a minute before they both lunged, both of them trying to tap each others skulls and also trying at the same time to dodge the other, so they ended up colliding with each other with their arms out and their heads bent at awkward angles no human would be able to get. They both jumped back before using the table to separate themselves._

_"Not now," The human between them uttered, but it reached neither of their attention since they both were interested in the game far more._

_There would never be a winner, but that didn't matter to either of them. They were having fun with each other, and that really is what counted._

_When Dream started to move towards the right, Nightmare would move to the left, keeping them the same, if not more, distance apart. Nightmare suddenly picked up a writing utensil nearby and threw it at Dream, yelling out the word "UNBLESSED!" as the object smacked him in the face._

_"Aw, missed the head," Nightmare teased._

_"Did you seriously just throw that at me?" Dream asked, frowning, "You're a big meanie, you know that?"_ __  
  


_"A big meanie who's going to win!" Nightmare had laughed, launching himself halfway over the table to try and tap Dream, who jumped to the side to dodge._

_That wasn't a good move._

_From that action, Dream had accidently jumped into a large shelved cabinet which was filled to the brim with potions, which of course was tipped over due to Dream's actions. The two twins quickly used his magic in order to catch the shelved cabinet, their dark and light magic residue catching the large wooden object. However, they forgot about the potions of which were stationed on the many shelves of the cabinet, which slide off at the angle they had caught it. As a result, they all shattered on the floor, bright glowing liquid splattering over everything and covering the floor before seeping between the cracks of the floorboards._

_"WHAT DID YOU GUYS DO?" Maledizione had yelled, her usually once firm eyes wide and full of fear and surprise._

_"I am so sorry!" Dream quickly said, standing up from the cabinet as Nightmare stared wide socketed at the situation unfolding between them._

_And, of course, the situation thus far could only get worse._

_Since the two were distracted by the mess that was created because of their ignorance to their surroundings, they both lost focus of their magic holding up the large wooden item, causing it to fall over past dream and smash into the table that Maledizione had once been working at, shattering the two into wooden splintered pieces immediately. The dark haired girl screamed out as years of work and effort, in just two movements, was completely destroyed._

_Dream could only stare at the mess unfolded out before him with hands covering his teeth in shock. Potions were a slow and hard craft which took years to practice. Ingredients these days were hard to find and often rare, so they had to be treated with care. Over a hundred potions, each precious and carefully crafted, was destroyed in just one minute._

_They weren't paying attention._

_They shouldn't have acted like children._

_He broke out of his trance when Nightmare had quickly moved to kneel down next to the owner of the destroyed products, stating, "We'll clean up, don't worry. We can get some people to build you some new things, and we can help you find those-"_

_The human suddenly shoved him back, her hair covering her eyes as her mouth was turned into a frown, some tears streaming down her pale cheeks._

_"GO!" She yelled, her voice shaking, "JUST GO! I HATE YOU!"_

_Nightmare stood up as Dream reached out and tried to comfort her, only to receive her smacking his wrist._

_"LEAVE!" When she looked up at him as she shouted that, her eyes were burning with a passionate hatred, one of which he knew was justified by his foolishness, "JUST LEAVE! I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN!"_

_Nightmare grabbed Dream, who looked back at his brother in confusion. The Prince of Darkness shook his head, knowing there was no use. She wouldn't listen to them. They could try again next week, when she calmed down._

_Dream sighed before nodding lightly, allowing for himself to be lead out of the once happy cabin that he had loved to visit. They both knew it was his fault, but Nightmare never raised his voice at Dream for making her hate him, never frowned at him for something he was responsible for. If only Dream had spoke up about his feelings, then Nightmare would've admitted that he felt as if it was himself for the cause, since he was the one who dove at the table and started the whole game, then perhaps fate would have been kinder._

_But instead, as fate is not kind, Dream and Nightmare simply walked back to their horses in silence, both insisting inside of their minds that it was indeed their own fault and not the others. Guilt and shame were placing themselves within the souls of both, and they would remain there for sometime._


	11. Chapter 11

_A few weeks have passed since the incident, and because of his duties as a Leader, it had completely escaped from Dreams mind. So it had come as a surprise when one of his Followers, a girl of purple hair, opened his door while he and Nightmare were working to inform them that their old friend,_ _Maledizione, had decided to make an appearance._

_She was sitting in a chair when Dream arrived, bags under her eyes and a stressed look eating up her face. Her hands were tightly clasped together, and were slightly shaking, too. Her short black hair was messed up, and her skin seemed even more pale than usual._

_"Maledizione!" Dream said, running up to her, "I am so sorry about everything that happened!"_

_"It's... It's fine..." She said quietly, blinking her eyes a few times, and her form was wobbly, as if she had a hard time sitting up._

_"Have you been taking good care of yourself?" He asked quietly, observing her condition._

_"Not really," She said, looking up at him wearily, "Could I possibly stay the night?"_

_Dream didn't hesitate for a moment before accepting, helping stand her up with one arm around his neck, in case she was too tired to even walk. When she was more aware and awake, he would apologize again and offer to help make it up, somehow. She was a nice women that he became friends with, so he didn't want to lose this friendship over a mistake he should've never made._

_But, there was something he never knew about her that he wouldn't learn until much, much too late._

_~~~~~~_

_Dream was sitting in his small twin bed, reading over a book about vampires when Nightmare had walked in, a confused look on his face as he pointed over his shoulder._

_"So why is the girl who freaked out only less than a month ago just laying in a bed like Sleeping Beauty?" He questioned._

_"Seeing how hard it is for you to wake up in the morning, you'd be sleeping beauty out of the choices here," Dream said, flipping to the next page._

_"Ha ha, very funny," Nightmare said, "But wasn't she just freaking out not even a month ago? I didn't think she'd be back so soon."_

_"Why?" Dream asked._

_"She's just not the type to forgive easily, you know," Nightmare explained, sitting down on the edge of his childhood bed._

_"You just have a hard time trusting and liking others," Dream said, grinning up at him, "That's why I'm your brother, to help you with your friendships!"_

_"Like how you're good friends with that certain follower of mine?" Nightmare snorted._

_A pillow lightly smacked across his face, the source being from Dream himself._

_"Shut up!" Dream said, a light yellow blush crawling across his face, "At least we're friends! You haven't had a crush yet!"_

_"True, but it's not like I have great options right now," Nightmare said, leaning against his arms, "But it's not like people haven't asked me out before."_

_"No way!" Dream laughed, setting down the book, "People have actually asked you out?"_

_"Don't laugh, I have a pretty handsome face," Nightmare said, pressing both of his hands against the underside of his chin and lifting up his head, blinking a few times for effect._

_"Oh please," Dream giggled, "I haven't seen any guys or girls flocking around you because of it. So it must not be that great of a face."_

_"Well, we're twins," Nightmare pointed out, "We have the same face."_

_That in turn earned another pillow thrown at him, which Nightmare dodged while laughing._

_"You're so mean!" Dream yelled, looking around for any more pillows to throw but finding none._

_"Hey, you started it!" Nightmare said, "And you're supposed to be the goody-two-shoes out of the both of us!"_

_"I was just poking some fun at you!" The other defended._

_"There's a difference between being fun and being mean. I have fun while being mean, and you always get all sobby whenever you're mean to someone else other than me!"_

_"I can be mean if I want to towards other people. I just don't."_

_Nightmare grinned at Dream, who had both of his arms crossed and was looking away from his twin brother._

_"Oh, sure," Nightmare laughed, "Tell me when was the last time that you were mean to someone other than me?"_

_"How about you tell me the last time you were nice to someone other than me?" Dream turned the question onto him._

_"Hey, I asked the question first," Nightmare demanded._

_"Princes Nightmare and Dream," A follower of Dream's chimed in, standing next to the door, "Your dinner has been prepared."_

_"Food! Sweet!" Nightmare said, standing up._

_"Yay!" Dream cheered, hopping up._

_As he ran past Nightmare, he tapped his head before Nightmare could dodge, giggling as he ran out of the room with his servant._

_"Evil does run in the family after all!" Nightmare said, running out of the room after him._

_Their food was spread out on a table of which they would usually eat at, their seats placed across from each other. Dream's plate was white with light blue decorations, while Nightmare instead had black decorations. Nightmares cup was a small mug, while Dreams was a nicer cup with decorations sprawled across the outer side.Their Followers had known their favorite foods and dishes, so they never had to ask what was on the menu, since it would be something they were bound to like. Or something new, although that was often more rare._

_Before Dream could sit down, Nightmare decided to exact his revenge by snatching his drink and chugging it down in a second before setting it back down in its spot. It was lemon flavored water without any sweetener, which was weird but Nightmare usually didn't question. But the taste was awfully sour._

_"Uck! Why do you like lemon flavored water so much?" Nightmare gagged, sitting down across from Dream._

_"I like sour flavor, don't judge me," Dream said, sitting down in a huff._

_The layout between them was nicely set up, with a full on steak with seasoning and sauce on Nightmares plate along with a salad on Dreams, and apple sitting in the middle of the table. Nightmares cup was full of coffee, turned a light brown from the milk and sugar added. He liked strong coffee but also enjoyed sweet coffee, both were good in his opinion._

_They chatted while enjoying their diverse dinners, exploring their hours previous to the meal. Halfway through the meal, Nightmare had noticed something out of the window._

_"Hey, look, it's snowing," Nightmare said, before groaning, "Now I have to remember to wear my coat again."_

_Dream turned to look, and while he was, Nightmare snatched a tomato from his plate and shoved it between his teeth._

_"Yeah, and it looks so-hey, that's my tomato!" Dream changed his sentence when he turned back around._

_"Wat tooomoto?" Nightmare asked, still chewing on the item in question while one hand pressed against his chest._

_"There's plenty in the kitchen, why didn't you just grab one?"_

_"Because you blessed me, Mr."_

_"Get unblessed from one of your Followers!"_

_"Yeah, I'm going to do that later. You're closer and easier to access."_

_"How is that-"_

_Suddenly, Nightmare burst out coughing, clutching his chest for a moment before wheezing, Dream pausing and looking concerned at his brother._

_"Are you okay? Did you choke on my stolen tomato?" Dream asked, concerned but still upset over the tomato._

_"Gah..." Nightmare wheezed as he managed to get a few ragged breaths in, "My chest is really hurting... like real bad...."_

_"That's what you get for eating so much fat," Dream said._

_Moments after, Nightmare started coughing again, more powerful and breathtaking than the coughs before. His pupils were small and his eye sockets wide, one hand furiously clutching the table as the other rubbed his chest, trying to sooth the pain that was being inflicted upon him. He tried to stand up, but he only made it halfway up before another burst of utter pain sent him to his side, leaving him a coughing fit on the floor._

_"Nightmare!"_

_Dream, now fully realizing this just wasn't a minor inconvenience to their meal, jumped up from his chair and pushed the table aside, causing the apple to fall off the table and disappear from sight. From his angle, it looked like Nightmare was crying, so he hurried as fast as he could. He went to grab Nightmare, helping the poor skeleton into a sitting position. And at this position he could see his face better._

_He wasn't crying, but something was coming out of his eye sockets._

_Something that just felt wrong._

_All of the commotion was caused a few servants to rush into the room, and once they noticed the position of the twins, they ran up to their Leaders to try and help._

_"Something is wrong with Nightmare!" Dream explained in a panic, his pupils filled with worry, "He just started coughing! There might've been something in the fo-"_

_He paused, thinking over the word he was going to say before glancing over at his cup on the ground that was knocked over the table, the darker tinted liquid remains able to be viewed by him._

_"Someone tried to poison my drink with something and Nightmare drank it!" Dream yelled as Nightmares Followers helped pick up Nightmare, who was shaking violently and had started thrashing in pain, "You guys take him to the healing center, I have something I have to go check!"_

_As desperately as Dream had wanted to stay by his brothers side, he had to make sure it wasn't who he suspected. So he ran to the room of which he stored a certain someone and threw it open, the door colliding to the wall._

_And all he met was an empty room, the essence of winter fluttering in through the open window next to the empty bed._


	12. Chapter 12

_It had only went downhill from there._

_No one knew what had infected Nightmare, but no cures were working. No herbs or healing power would work, and he seemed to only be getting worse for the next two months. Dream had sent out letters to get healers from around the world in, but none of them were able to do anything. Some sort of black, thick liquid kept leaking from his left eye socket, which wouldn't stop no matter what they tried. It had started to consume his body somehow, already covering the bottom left side of his skull and slowly making its way down his rib cage, mostly covering all of the bones there. The coughing didn't happen constantly now, but sometimes he would break out into coughing fits. It turns out that whatever that was in his drink had infected the soul itself, so the pain was more intense than ever. And, of course, healing soul curses was much harder than just healing a plain old body curse. In fact, no soul curses have ever been known to be healed, and this wasn't even a known one._

_Nightmare was stuck in the infirmary constantly at this point, barely even able to walk around. His Followers were the ones taking care of him, helping feed him, try to remove the black liquid that always just came back after a day. There was nothing Dream could do, and he just kept getting worse._

_Dream had never felt so useless before._

_He didn't want to go to her hut at first, but with no cure in sight, and Nightmares condition just worsening overtime, he had no choice but to go confront the cause of this._

_Dream, as the Prince of Light, didn't want to go attack her in anyway. He always was a peace first sort of man, and his Followers supported him in that idea. Nightmares Followers were completely willing to go and burn down her hut with her inside, but Dream said that they should wait to see if she would try to pull anything. Now, his Followers watched the food they prepared and made sure that two people were stationed to watch the dish. Dream started to not let people enter the castle unless they were a Follower or a healer for Nightmare. Some curtains on windows started closing, a few Followers were even sent out to go research a cure._

_But, he had to make a decision, and that decision was to go face the cause of his problems._

_What choice did he have?_

_She was the one who created it, so she would have to be the one who could cure it. Nothing else was working, and he was afraid that Nightmare was going to die. He needed something, anything, and she would have to give him something._

_So Dream had went to Malediziones house alone, not wanting to put anyone else in danger but himself. He didn't even bother to knock on her back door, he simply just blasted it open with the magic he should've used before, storming in._

_"Maledizione!" He yelled when he spotted her wide eyed expression at his intrusion._

_"How are you able to stand? I cursed you!" She yelled, standing up and backing away._

_"That's the thing, Nightmare drank it instead of me," Dream said, kicking aside a box to storm towards her and grab the front of her clothes, "Are you aware of what you've done?"_

_His expression filled with fear and worry when she learned that she had indeed hit the wrong target. Her mouth gaped open like a fish, as if realizing that she had hurt Nightmare hurt her._

_"Oh my lord..." She whispered, her face paling, "I-I... I didn't... Not Nightmare..."_

_"Why?" Dream asked, trying to blink away a few tears, "Why did you do that to my drink? Now Nightmare's h-hurt, and he's not getting better."_

_"I swear... I..." She seemed at a loss for words._

_Dream was shaking from frustration and worry, his teeth gritting together from the idea of not having Nightmare in his life._

_"What's the cure?" He demanded, his voice raising, "What's the darn cure to it?"_

_"There is n-no cure..." She said, her voice whimpering as her bottom lip trembled from sorrow._

_Dream dropped to her knees in front of her, his hands scraping into the ground. Than, he lifted up his right hand and twisted it into a fist before smashing it down onto the floor, repeating this process over and over. His fist had started to burn with the pain, but he paid no attention to this detail, too distracted by the pain of his own emotions to even bother with the mere physical pain._

_"NO!" Dream screamed out with each time his fist struck the ground, "NO! NO! NO! THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!"_

_Maledizione was looking sideways at the floor with a dull look, her lips pressed together as her mind came up with a solution she dared not to tell Dream._

_"No... there has to be..." Dream had quieted down from his outrage as reality set in, tears running down his face as he sobbed loud, hideous sobbs of pure pain, bent over the floor._

_And there he stayed, his mind racketing over any type of solution. He tried to look for an explanation of why the world would do this to Nightmare, but nothing came of why he deserved this fate. Dream should've been the one poisoned, he was the child of the two who refused to grow up._

_No, there was still time. There had to be something, anything, for Dream to do._

_He stumbled up to his legs, of which were shaking._

_"You, You need to find a cure!' Dream said, grabbing at Malediziones shoulders and leaning his weight into her body, "Please! Everything has a cure, right! There's always a back action to everything! Don't let him die!"_

_"I-I could try, but this curse doesn't kill, it technically taints," Her usual cool attitude was gone, and now she was a stuttering mess with tears in her eyes as well, "B-but I can try..."_

_"T-Thank you!" Dream sighed with relief, drawing the female into a hug, "Please try everything. I-I don't think I can imagine a world without Nightmare..."_

_~~~~~~_

_It had only been three days since his last visit, and Dream had went again to see if she had made any progress. She was his only hope, and Dream had desperately wanted her to find any sort of cure. He was begging that if anyone could save him from whatever fate this curse gave him, it would be her._

_The forest was in an eerie silence when he arrived, snow fluttering around him as he climbed off of his horse, tying it to the fence post next to the house. His horse neighed softly, but he paid no mind as he went to her back door and knocked lightly._

_No response._

_He huffed, not in the mood for distractions, and opened the door, snowflakes flying in with a whoosh of wind as the dark room was lit up by the light of the outside, all of the windows covered by papers, making the room awfully dark._

_The stench..._

_It was disgusting._

_Dream gagged while covering his nose socket, stepping into the shadow filled room. Even with the door open, it only lit up the middle of the room, so the corners and other rooms were still sealed in shadows. She wasn't inside of the main potion room, so she most likely was in her bedroom, of which the door was cascaded by the shadows. So, he had to feel for the doorknob, and when he opened it, it was utterly black in there. He couldn't make out any sort of shape._

_"Maledizione?" He asked._

_Silence._

_He swore if she had ended up running away out of fear of being imprisoned, he was going to flip._

_But first he should find a candle._

_He stumbled into the room, only a few steps in stepping into a puddle of some sort of sticky liquid._

_"I thought she cleaned up the mess..." He groaned, kicking aside some sort of bag next to the liquid._

_Finally, after some feeling of the walls, he managed to find the candle, which was actually mostly used up. There was only about an inch left, so he would probably bring in some extra candles next time, if she hadn't abandoned him in the work. Using his magic, he lit the candle, which helped light up the room, though dimly, it still helped._

_And when he turned around, he almost dropped it._

_He stared from surprise at the puddle of liquid on the floor, knowing that just wasn't any kind of potion she made. Though he hadn't seen it often, he could still recognize that red color of an injured human anywhere._

_Old blood._

_Does that mean..._

_His pupils drifted to the object of which he kicked to the side, which turned out to definitely not be a bag of ingredients as he first thought. First, he spotted a knife covered in the dark red, almost brown liquid, gripped in a deathly pale hand. And he followed that bare arm up, noticing the old bleeding cuts before he moved to her chest, noticing a large stab wound inside of the middle of it._

_And finally her head, with dead grey eyes staring directly at him._


	13. Chapter 13

_The ride home was dull, too fast to even pay attention to. Even though it was a good time frame, it seemed only a mere second that he hopped onto his horse to leave, only to see the second in the next second. He didn't know how to even feel about this discovery of a suicide. It was just... dull..._

_Dream had brought back some items from her hut before he left, mainly the book she had been reading the day of the accident. There was a certain page bookmarked, and the picture of the potion in the top right was circled multiple times in dark ink. He didn't read the page when he got it, he only grabbed the book, all of the ingredients in there he could find, and some vials too, since he would most likely have to figure out the cure himself._

_Or some way to stop the process._

_He didn't even know what was happening to Nightmare, all he could think about was how Nightmare was in pain, and it was his fault._

_But he could fix it._

_Somehow._

_~~~~~~_

_Dream leaned back in his chair, chewing on the feather of his writing utensil as he looked back over his notes, scattered over the desk and the book open laying in the middle of it, with certain parts underlined and circled with little notes Dream wrote across the paper._

_The Prince of Light had now figured out what was consuming his brothers body, a curse of which there was no known cure, a curse so horrible and terrible it had only been made in theory, not ever tested on someone in real life._

_A curse of evil._

_This potion would cause the victim to be consumed by their hatred and madness, driving them into a spiral of insanity once the liquid of true madness consumed their body, then their soul. If this curse took over Nightmare entirely, Nightmare himself as a person would be utterly destroyed. He would only be a faint memory of what he was, only the negative emotions he felt before the curse would remain. His happiness, his memories, his ability to enjoy life, it would all be gone. Just like that. Left to a fate of despair. The curse, once driven the victim to insanity, would twist their sense of life into nothing. They would end up killing and destroying everything they see out of an anger from not understanding until someone would be forced to kill them. It was an infection that consumed the soul and drove it to destroy anything it could until death eventually took hold._

_Dream had cried when he had discovered this fact, that Nightmare was bound for only more pain in his future. They had so many plans they wanted to do, so many things to see and find. They had actually been thinking of going on an adventure over the ocean, since ships were being built, and to see what the other land masses would look like. They were both so excited, they were going to go on an adventure together as brothers. Fight off demons, discover new land and name it after themselves and fighting over the name, maybe pick up some love on the way for Nightmare. Then Nightmare has teased Dream about his crush on one of his Followers, a skeleton with the name of Killer, and this resulted in Dream screaming at him while chasing him around with a blush._

_Now that would never happen._

_Dream picked up some of the papers on the desk, his neat handwriting going over possible theories of how to slow the process or to make a cure. Having helped the cause of this with some of her potions, he knew how reverse potions worked with the actual potion, and had some ideas of how to create one. He would also spread out the word that he needed people to research a cure for this potion._

_There was just one problem._

_There wasn't enough time._

_Nightmare already had half of his body consumed, and he was in the state where he woke up screaming from pain almost every night. He spent most of his day coughing, and sometimes he would end up being sent into a seizure at least once a day, his Followers having to move the blankets so he wouldn't get tangled and accidently hurt himself. They would have to take shifts, since Nightmare couldn't be alone in the room. Sometimes he would even choke on the hatred liquid since it could leak into his mouth. He had maybe a few weeks at most before the full effect would set in. Dream had time to make only one of these potions, and if it didn't work, then..._

_Nightmare wouldn't make it._

_The poor brother stood up from the desk, his hands trembling as he looked down at the notes. What could he do? Maledizione ruined his life already, she couldn't even help him in this time of need!_

_The skeleton slammed his hands down onto the desk, his soul aching with pain. No, he shouldn't have been unprofessional and decided to play the game with Nightmare without thinking of the risks. That's always what he did, never thought about the risks of his actions._

_He acted like a child._

_  
_ _And that costed him of Nightmare._

_Dream scowled at his own stupidity, covering his skull as he leaned over the desk. He didn't like this, he hated this. Why did Nightmare drink his drink that day? He should've been the one to drink it, not his dearest brother._

_And there stood Dream, only experiencing self hatred as he went over different scenarios of what could have perhaps played out. He could have ordered a Follower to watch the food when being made. He should've turned away Maledizione when she showed up on his doorstep. There was so much he could've done that day._

_But he didn't._

_That didn't mean there was nothing he couldn't do now._

_But there wasn't enough time to do anything helpful._

_Dream perked up, a thought running across his mind. What if he had more time to work on a cure? Freeze the curse in its tracks, stop its progress to give Dream and others time to test out the possible cures._

_Like some sort of sleeping spell, such as the one Maledizione was reading the day it happened..._


	14. Chapter 14

_Dream had set down the book next to Nightmare on the nightstand, a chair pulled up next to the bed. The papers with the notes was sitting on his lap, before he shuffled through them to show to Nightmare. The Prince of Darkness was breathing heavily on the bed, a hand once again resting where his soul was contained._

_"Hey Dream..." Nightmare breathed out, wincing at the sharp pain that shot through him, "How's... How's it hanging?"_

_"I think I found out a solution to the time problem we have!" Dream said quickly, opening up the large book to the marked page._

_Nightmare glanced over, his only visible blue pupil moving. He shifted slightly to try and get a better angle, resting his skull completely sideways._

_"It, is, well, it won't really solve your curse, but it'll let me have more time to make cures and to test them out," Dream said, pointing at the title while holding it close to Nightmare's face._

_"Sleeping potion?" Nightmare coughed afterwards, wincing at the pain racketing his body, "Will it stop the pain at least?"_

_"It's supposed to pause your body in time," Dream explained furthermore on the effects, "It will put you into your soul, like an eternal dream. You won't be able to hear the physical world, and we won't be able to talk to you, but it still let's souls with Leaders and Followers connect, so you could still talk to your Followers."_

_"An eternal nap, heck yeah," Nightmare giggled._

_He then proceeded to break out into a nasty coughing fit, his bones rattling as he moved in pain._

_"The cure is easy for this potion," The brother said, "So it'll be no problem to wake you up from the sleeping spell. The problem is just removing this curse from you."_

_"Heh," Nightmare laughed slightly, "People were always telling me I was dripping with hot looks, anyway."_

_"You sure are, Nightmare."_

_~~~~~~_

_Nightmare was on board with the sleeping potion idea, and it only took a week to craft. However, Nightmare was mostly more of a liquid skeleton than himself that this point, and people who heard about this situation weren't very happy with what Dream was trying to do._

_People were concerned that Nightmare might destroy entire towns, even mountains, from the amount of power a Leader had. The potion may wear off over time, and if Dream didn't find a cure, then they Nightmare would kill hundreds of people._

_So this led to people showing up at Dream's castle, demanding for him to rethink his actions. As a leader, he was never threatened, but they pleaded with him._

_It was always the same. A group of people would show up, demand to see him, and would tell him it was unwise to keep such a threat alive._

_To kill him while he still was weak._

_One night when Dream had entered his brothers infirmary room, Nightmare had brought this up._

_"You should do it."_

_Dream froze, looking down at Nightmare._

_"Kill me, that is," Nightmare said, looking up at the ceiling with a sigh, "...I don't want to be a burden."_

_"What, no!" Dream said, standing up, "I... I can't! You're never a burden, Nightmare!"_

_"I-I was the one who caused you to almost get cursed," Nightmare said, his breathing heavy, "It was my fault, that day... I deserve this."_

_Dream stared down at Nightmare with pained eye sockets. He thought he was the one who caused this?_

_"Nightmare, no, it was my fault!" Dream said, kneeling next to his injured brother._

_"You at least caught the cabinet, I didn't do anything," Nightmare said, "You tried. I was just shocked."_

_"But you weren't the one who started the game, who knew it could get violent near fragile items," Dream muttered._

_"You just wanted to have some fun. I should've stopped you."_

_"I should've paid attention with my magic."_

_"I should've helped with my magic."_

_They both stared at each other before Nightmare reached out, with a shaking hand, and poked Dream's chest._

_"Guess we both s-screwed up, huh?" He grinned widely at his brother, "Us that potion on me, I don't need to die. I know you'd end up screwing up without me around, too."_

_Dream nodded, pulling Nightmare into a hug._

_"I don't know what I would do without you," He whispered._

_"Me... Me neither," Nightmare agreed, closing his eye sockets._

_And, after a week of hard work, the potion was created._

_Nightmare was going to be moved to a new bed once under the spell, which was set up in the basement, where Dream could work with some intellectual minds to help figure out the cure. A group of Nightmares followers stood to the side, ready to carry his body when the time came. But they knew this was important to both of the twins, so they remained on the side to merely watch._

_Dream helped sit up Nightmare, a hand pressed firmly to his back as he held up the cup, allowing for Nightmare to easily drink the potion without much effort. It would kick into effect inside only a few minutes, so the two would have to wait._

_"That tasted awful..." Nightmare complained._

_"You're about to go into a coma like state, and you still complain about the taste of a drink," Dream sighed._

_"If I'm going out, I'm going out complaining," Nightmare said, grinning at his twin, "Also, you know what?"_

_He pointed up at Dream._

_"Since this... this will freeze me in time, I'm not going to age, so you're going to be... be the bigger brother..."_

_His eye sockets started to droop, displaying the effect of the potion._

_"So... So don't... screw it... up..."_

_And his hand fell at his side, one last smile flashing across his face before his body fully slumped onto Dream._


	15. Chapter 15

_Dream was tired._

_So, so very tired._

_Day after day he slaved, researching and making potions. Sometimes he would just sit down next to Nightmares sleeping form and just talk to him. There was nothing specific he talked about, and he knew that Nightmare couldn't hear him, but it made him feel better. He would just talk about his day, how hard he worked, the kind of food he ate that day. Other times, he would just sit down with food and eat next to his brother, the dining room holding too many bad memories for him to handle._

_Every morning, one of Nightmares Followers would deliver a message to Dream from his brother. Sometimes it was just a jab, like "Hey, I can eat steak non-stop and not get sick! I bet you wish that you could do that!" and "How's it going? I have no one to talk to all day, it's super lonely man." Dream would spread word around the Followers to give a response, but sometimes the Follower of which received the ability to see him that night did not get the message, so it was difficult to talk to his brother._

_But Nightmare was safe, and it gave Dream an eternity to find a cure._

_And he was going to find it._

_After the first month, Dream managed to convince plenty of alchemists and scientists to work with him to try and find a potion, devoting the basement to a work room. There was around fifty people working in total, others not willing to be in the same building as someone with the curse, and others simply not interested in the project. This allowed for more ideas for cures to be created, and they were created at a much faster pace than just Dream working._

_But nothing worked._

_Time and time again, cure after cure failed to work. Some of them did not have any reactions, others just made Nightmare jolt in his sleep. But, in the end, nothing was working. Dream, however, was determined, and wouldn't give into failure._

_His workmates thought differently on this matter, though._

_A woman monster of yellow skin approached him before sunfall one fateful day, a pile of papers clutched closely to her chest._

_"Dream," Her voice was ever so soft, nervous, Dream should have seen it coming, "This won't work."_

_"What won't work?" He asked, looking up from his notes, "You mean your partner? I know she's distracting, I can move your desk to work with someone else."_

_"This project. It's hopeless."_

_Dream paused, unsure of how to respond before she spoke again._

_"I ran over the probability of ever finding a cure that will work, based off of the numbers. It's less than one percent," She explained, adjusting her glasses, "So... um, pretty much, we're shooting for a goal that'll never be hit. Even with time, materials, and power on our side, it only increases barely, not even by a tenth."_

_"Y-You must've done your math wrong," Dream said, standing up in a hurry, "There's a way, there's always a way! We just have to stay hopeful! Nightmare will get better, there's always a cure to potions. I-"_

_"Dream."_

_He ignored her._

_"-Know there has to be a cure. I mean, Nightmare is immortal, and his soul is really strong, he can fight through it! We just aren't looking hard en-"_

_"Dream."_

_She rested a hand on his shoulder, shaking her head._

_"There's no hope," She spoke softly, "You won't be able to save your brother. Grow up, this isn't a fairytale. The best thing you can do for him, right now, is to let him go."_

_SMACK!_

_He didn't mean it._

_But he did._

_He didn't even know._

_Dreams hand stung from the impact, shaking violently. His mind was in a hurricane of emotions, anger, grief, pain, different types of horrible emotions whirling around into one mass storm of pain. Everything she said just... made him so_ _angry_ _, he just... wanted to take it out._

_But he didn't mean to take it out on her._

_The poor woman was holding her now red cheek, staring at the Prince before her in shock and disbelief. Her papers had fell to the ground below them, scattering about the cold wooden floor. She took a step back, the creak of her weight against the floor the only sound the two made._

_Neither of them knew how to respond to this._

_And so, when she took another step backwards, he didn't move to stop her. Nothing made sense anymore. He thought she was his friend, why would she do this to him? Why would she say those things?_

_Before he knew it, the door to upstairs was slammed closed, and once again Dream stood alone in the light._

_All alone._

_~~~~~~_

_The Prince of Light didn't sleep that night._

_He couldn't care less about his job at this point, candles were lit around him, cascading light down onto the papers on his desk he was working at. He promised Nightmare he would find a cure, and he would. He didn't care about the pain, the struggle, he would do this._

_For his brother, it was worth it._

_The papers of which the female dropped were in the bin next to the desk, ignored. Those numbers were lies. He didn't want to look at them, didn't need to, and wouldn't._

_He hadn't noticed the other scientist standing in front of his desk until the male cleared his throat, Dream looking up at the human with tired eye sockets._

_"Sir Dream."_

_He held out a single piece of paper which Dream grasped in his hand, skimming through the paper._

_"Why did you give me a list of names?" The skeleton asked._

_"It's a list of people quitting."_

_He glanced up, his hand holding the paper wrinkling it a little._

_"Pardon?"_

_"You have unrealistic expectations of us, and quite frankly," The Doctor paused, turning around, "I would have quit anyway. I cannot work for childish fantasies."_

_The Prince of Light watched as the Doctor left, the hand holding the piece of paper, full of at least twenty names, shaking violently. And when the footsteps in the hallway faded...._

_He screamed._


	16. Chapter 16

_One year._

_One cycle of the earth had passed since Nightmare was put to an eternal sleep and Dream only had around twenty scientists total left to work for him. A few more had decided to leave after the group did, but he managed to find some more scientists and potion brewers to come in, so he had around twenty total workers helping him find a cure to save his brother. Some were curious to see if there was a cure to stop this curse from inflicting others, some were interested to test out their limits and find the cure with such low probability, and the rest simply understood the love for families and were willing to help Dream to try and save his own._

_But, this had a cost._

_It was starting to get more difficult to go out into public, rumors were starting to spread. Rumors of how he wouldn't be able to save his brother, how his brother would end up destroying the world, how he bit off more than he could chew with this._

_It's all fine, Dream can handle it._

_But the rumors started to grow more wild. Some said that Dream himself was cursed too, and that was why he hid in his castle. Others said that his Followers were being held captive with himself in his castle by Nightmare, which spread out false claims of himself being under a sleeping spell. And a few, few rare ones were whispered about that Dream was being tricked by Nightmare to free him, and that his childish beliefs were getting in the way of him seeing the truth._

_Curtains started closing in the castle._

_Followers started to move out, into different villages._

_Dream started to grow more distant._

_He closed doors._

_He shut blinds._

_Candles remained lit longer._

_Everything just hurt._

_He just wanted to talk to Nightmare again._

_Dream spoke more about cures than himself and how he was feeling, he spent more time dwelling over the pain than the fun, he sat next to Nightmare more than in his own bed. He started sleeping, rarely, in the child bedroom, sobbing over memories of his former life. Everything about his days became focused on Nightmare, on the cure, on the curse, days blurred into weeks, weeks blurred into months, before the year had passed and still no positive results were showing. The others comforted him, saying how he had time and would find the cure, one day, somehow. Their backrubs felt distant and dull, Dream couldn't focus. His hand started to cramp from writing too much. His pelvis and spine ached from sitting on a chair and bending over a desk too much. Happiness was like a fleeting memory. He saw Nightmare less and papers more._

_That was fine. He could handle it._

_He was just fine. He was a Leader, he could push through this._

_~~~~~~_

_Dream had been working on a possible combination of herbs in a soup form instead of a potion form for the cure when he heard the crash of glass from another room, followed by screams of people._

_He could hear thudding as people started to run towards it to find out the cause of the loud crash, and Dream followed, running down the hall past a few people to discover whatever that sound was._

_It had come from Nightmares room, people were starting to crowed the inside of the large room, so Dream had so push some aside to finally lay his gaze upon the shattered glass beneath the now open window, a rock sitting in the middle with a peace of paper wrapped around it with a rope. Nightmare was still on the bed, sleeping peacefully, so Dream sighed with relief._

_No culprit in sight._

_"Sir Dream..." One of his Followers said, "It looks like someone wanted to send a message."_

_"Let's find out what it is," Another said, picking up the rock and handing it to Dream._

_It was most likely intended for him, anyway._

_"I hope it's a nice letter..." A third Follower replied._

_Of course it wasn't._

_Instead, it was a scribbled out message in awful handwriting of pure hatred towards Nightmare, making Dream want to burn the piece of paper and smack the person who wrote it. Of course, whoever wrote it ran off into the forest, so he wouldn't be able to find them._

_"Dream!" Some people said, backing away from him._

_Indeed, he had burned the piece of paper, still holding it within his hands, it had caught aflame by his magic, burning with pure yellow magic and crumbling to ash at his feet. It was his own magic, so it didn't affect him, but it was only mere seconds before the message was destroyed below him._

_"Move Nightmare to a new, safe location if someone will," Dream said, dusting off the residue of the message from his bones, "We can't keep him near windows, someone may perhaps try to break in and kill him."_

_"Sir Dream, what did the message say?" One of his scientists asked._

_He didn't respond, simply turning around and walking out the door. They didn't need to know, it was just a stupid hate note, and they didn't even attack Nightmare, it was fine. And it was just one little not, not even two full sentences, they probably didn't even know what they were talking about._

_It was fine, Dream was fine._

_The door to his workroom was closed behind him before he fell to his knees in front of that door, his vision blurring from tears._

_It's okay, Nightmare is okay._

_A tear ran down his skull._

_He can save Nightmare._

_A sob escaped from his teeth, loud and sorrowful._

_He could do this, he could handle it._

_He screamed into his hands that were covering his face, bending over his body as he crumpled into himself. He cried, he screamed, he hurt, everything was a blur. He could hear some knocking at this point, but it was distant, all he could feel was the intense pain from his soul as one thing went through his mind._

_'If there is a God out there...'_

_'Please...'_

_'Make it all stop, make the pain go away just for one day...'_

_'Please...'_


	17. Chapter 17

_It just grew worse throughout the years._

_People doubted the ability of Dream, people were scared of the rumors. They were too powerful, twisting and weaving through people's minds until they believed something that wasn't true. It was horrible, seeing the effect rumors had on people._

_Then, Dream had an idea._

_Twist the rumors to his liking._

_He and Nightmare had a large collection of Followers, which he could use to his advantage. So, he sent them out, having them whisper fables and tales of lies about the brothers. Of course, he would have to make these rumors seem true, so people would believe them without a doubt in their minds. He needed this to work, so people wouldn't be of a bother._

_Seven years after the curse was set upon his brother, he started his work with his and his brothers Followers. He sent his own out into different towns, planting the seeds of rumors. He would have to paint Nightmare as the bad guy in these tales, but not forever, just until he managed to find the right cure. It was fine, as long as people stayed away from him, it was fine._

_He had spent a month with his peers, crafting a tale so believable that people wouldn't dare to even go near Nightmare. After seven years, it had only worsened, people sometimes breaking into the castle and even trying to find and kill Nightmare. He had to start stationing guards, not letting anyone but his and Nightmare's Followers into the castle unless they were the peers he worked with. He started busying himself with work around the castle, taking on more of the chores and tasks and sleeping even less. He was constantly on the move, but it helped distract himself from the pain, so he kept busy._

_So, after seven years of Nightmare under a curse, and after a month of weaving a perfect tale, Dream had come up with the perfect tale that would keep people away, and hopefully keep Nightmare safe._

_It would take time to spread the word out, but that was fine, Dream had time, he had plenty of it. He hated the idea of painting Nightmare in a bad picture, but people would forget overtime anyway, it was fine._

_He had all eternity to make this work, people would forget details anyway._

_The first wave of rumors had promising results, spreading out the word that Nightmare was showing signs of waking up, and that Dream was working on some sort of spell while his brother was still unconscious. After this, people started showing up at his door more, fearful of Nightmare's curse growing and consuming his soul. Dream would tell them it was true, but he was working on something else to keep him contained._

_After a month, he sent them out once more, having them twist more tales. Tales of how Nightmare was awoken, but Dream placed him under a spell to seal him to the land, so Nightmare couldn't hurt a fly. And if they just stayed off of the piece of land he was sealed to, they would be safe._

_Of course, Dream had to take more action for this one, he needed evidence in order to twist it to his liking. So, he decided to split his land in half, cutting off the section of which the women who caused it lived upon before. He never went to that horrid hut again, not wanting painful memories to flash across his face._

_  
_ _And, the smell._

_He never moved her from where she took her last breath._

_Dream had always lived by the code that everyone was innocent and everyone could be a good person, if they just tried. He always believed that there was a good and a bad to everyone, that if everyone just managed to be a little nicer to others, the world would be significantly better._

_But..._

_He grew up._

_Just like they told him to._

_So the land was divided, and Dream would have to make sure that others wouldn't stray onto the land, he decided to move some of Nightmares Followers onto the land. Some of them were talented builders, so they offered to build a small castle for them to move into. When other Followers heard of this, they wanted to transform it to be in honor of Nightmare, and construction plans for a full blown castle in honor of Nightmare went underway, and Dream agreed. He wanted Nightmare to be pleasantly surprised when he was awoken from his slumber._

_The rumors held, and people started to stay away, from both Dream and his land in general. Some came to tell him their apologies for doubting him, and others came to give him good luck with helping his brother, but the rumors worked._

_Dream was able to focus more on the cure now._

_Until the day someone found Nightmare._

_~~~~~~_

_It was a bright and sunny day, Dream was talking to a few new scientists about the possibility of reversing the hatred when the son of one of them, a child no older than ten years of age, stumbling in with wide eyes._

_"Daddy!" He had spoken, gathering all of their attentions, "There's a gooey guy in this one room!"_

_A Follower of Nightmares followed him into the room, an apologetic look spreading across her face._

_He found Nightmare._

_"Oh, it must've just been my collection of the hatred, there is indeed a lot," Dream tried to cover up._

_"No, it was a skeleton man, with gooey face stuff!" The child objected, waving his arms in front of his Father._

_Sixteen years after Nightmare had met a terrible fate, a child had revealed Nightmare's unconscious presence in his castle to his Father, a man who Dream terribly wanted to help him study._

_And so, sixteen years after Nightmare was cursed, Dream made a decision he didn't exactly enjoy to keep the child and three scientists quite. It was a decision he would never speak of, one that stayed with only him and the women that remained loyal to Nightmare, who died at the age of 45 years later._

_A decision of which he would tell no one. It remains a mystery, to this very day, of what he did generations ago, but whatever he did do, they did not return to their homes ever again._


	18. Chapter 18

_Due to that little 'incident', Dream had realized that keeping Nightmare near his work wasn't a very good idea. He loved Nightmare dearly, but having him where others could stumble across him and possibly harm his brother. There was another reason too, because Dream ended up crying over his brothers body too often whenever he would visit him. So, Nightmare had been moved from Dreams castle to Nightmares, and more rumors were spread. Some even told of a curious child, who went into the land and was never seen again, his Father with a group of friends following him later when he went missing and never returned._

_And since those people never returned, others didn't dare go into the land of which were labeled at Nightmares. Some of his Followers even started to spread the rumors that an epic battle had taken place between the twins, so some people even came to congratulate him._

_He hated it._

_Why would they congratulate him for 'killing' his own bones and blood? It was his own brother, the only person he felt as if he could talk to, and they give him smiles as if he saved the world? Everytime people did that, he wanted to smack them, but he just gave them a smile._

_A very, very tired smile._

_Curtains closed more, he stopped letting people visit. More of his Followers were sent out, and all he could focus on was a cure that would work._

_Just one, one cure, please._

_He was starting to run out of ideas. He was trying out everything he could think of, and the ideas were starting to run thin. Nothing was working, Nightmare wasn't being cured. His Followers said he was starting to get lonely during the day, without anyone to talk to._

_More years had passed, and Dream had started to grow full. He spoke in long, carefully thought sentences, the child-like substance that was his personality before lost to time and grief. Years seemed to flash by, and he had lost track of how much time had passed. More of his Followers were born, some died, people grew older. But, of course, Dream stayed the same age. Never aging. Never growing. Never changing._

_The scientists and potion makers he was working with people had all grown old, some of them even dying of old age. It was when the last three of them remained that one had approached Dream with his concerns._

_But Dream couldn't hear him when he started talking._

_The poor skeleton wasn't even aware that the man was in the same room with him until a hand waved in front of his face._

_"Huh?" Dream groaned, looking up at the face above him._

_The man, his colleague for over thirty years, looked at him with a face Dream couldn't exactly make out. From working too long, and from constantly staring at papers, Dreams vision wasn't on the good side, but it was fine. Just a tad blurry was all._

_"Dream, it's me..." The man said his name, but Dream didn't pay attention._

_He'd just die soon anyway, like the others did._

_Why was he immortal? Why couldn't he just have a peaceful end like the others did? It hurt, it hurt so much knowing that he'd outlive everyone he ever got close to._

_Fingers snapped in his face, dragging Dream from his terrible thoughts. The man was leaning close, and Dream could see the concern in his face._

_"Did you find anything?" Dream asked._

_"Huh?" The male questioned._

_"Find any new cure ideas, any new results?"_

_The human in front of him sighed and ran a hand over his face, as Dream squinted his eye sockets further. When did his vision get blurry? He should have noticed it sooner, but he could get glasses later, ask for someone to make them maybe._

_"No, Dream, please," He seemed to plead, "We're all concerned about you."_

_"I'm fine," Dream said._

_He was perfectly fine, a bit stressed, but nothing a nice cup of tea and a small nap can't fix._

_"No, you aren't."_

_He was lying._

_"I can handle this, it's fine."_

_Perfectly fine._

_The man crept even closer, and Dream looked at him curiously. Why wasn't he working?_

_"Dream, I know how much you've been suffering, how much you've been working yourself," He spoke, "But, it's always okay to take a break, or even give up."_

_Give..._

_Give up..._

_"It's always okay to call quits, everyone will be fine with it," He continued, "You can wait until technology improves, so you can help Nightmare that way. I mean, I do wish he was back, but we're going about it the wrong way. We don't have the technology to solve this, and taking an entire piece of land to keep for rumors is going a bit too far..."_

_Dream stopped listening, staring at the desk with dark eye sockets._

_Just give up?_

_After everything he's done?_

_Give up on his brother?_

_GIVE UP ON NIGHTMARE?_

_His hands slammed against the table and he stood up, a cup of water being knocked to the ground. The man whose name was not important stood back, watching Dream._

_"Out."_

_Dream held out his arm and pointed towards the door._

_"Pack your things, leave this castle, forever," The Leader said._

_It all hurt._

_"What do you mean, Dream?" The male asked, taking a step back in disbelief, "We've been friends from the moment I was born, you're just going to throw me out?"_

_"I'll get the guards."_

_With one last look, the man left through the blurry door, his footsteps retreating in the hall as Dream fell back into his chair, burying his skull in his arms._

_Why did it hurt?_


	19. Chapter 19

_After an entire century had passed since the day Dream had placed Nightmare under a deep sleep, he had completely used every last idea he could on how to cure him. His mind was blank, he spent hours trying to come up with something, anything, but it was no use. He had no more scientists to help him with his studying. The story had been twisted through a few generations, and he didn't bother to correct it. Less visitors started to show up, leaving the castle more and more bare. Curtains were starting to close left and right, Dream often slept with the candles still lit. He moved more and more of his Followers out to villages a distance away, so the hallways were more empty. Dream cried often at this point, at least once a day sobbing over an image that was drawn ever so long ago. The bad news only continued when he discovered that Nightmare wasn't creating many more Followers, their numbers were depleting at a fast rate._

_Nightmare would most likely die._

_And Dream could do absolutely nothing to stop it._

_Maybe this was the world, telling him he couldn't and shouldn't tempt with fate. That even immortals would one day be bound to death, and trying to prevent it would only end in more heartache. No matter what he did, it seemed that Nightmare was going to die. His brother, his only true friend, wouldn't be there with him._

_He felt so stupid._

_There was no saving Nightmare, there never was. There was no cure, not with what he had now. Not many people were willing to save him, no one wanted to deal with a problem that was not their own._

_He was so selfish._

_The skeleton had hurt people, both mentally and physically. In his desire to save his own brother, he realized how self absorbed in his own world he had become. He loved Nightmare, he wanted him back desperately, but what had he lost during that time?_

_He was in so much pain._

_The Leader started to feel tired more often, no matter how much sleep he got. His soul was constantly aching, no matter how much he tried to put on a smile. He hated knowing he'd never be able to talk to Nightmare again, that everything he tried was hopeless._

_He..._

_He was so alone..._

_Dream had never felt so alone when he walked through his empty castle, no one in sight. He looked and looked, but found no one._

_He made them all leave._

_And so he wondered about aimlessly, not wanting to stop anywhere. He was utterly alone at that point, knowing full well that it was his own fault. He caused this, not anyone else. He was the one who screwed around, he was the one who didn't even look at his own drink, he was the one who failed Nightmare._

_No one but him._

_So wondered he did, the dead hallways looming in front of him. Beckoning him to fill in the empty space with his empty soul._

_The silence seemed to scream, and he did back at it._

_Why not?_

_No one listened anyway._


	20. Chapter 20

The taste of the apple tea felt bitter in his mouth by the time Dream finished telling his tale.

Cross set the cup to his side, next to the untouched cup of Dreams tea and their empty bowls of food.

"That was a lot to take in," Cross sighed, closing his eye sockets to regather himself, "I... I'm usually sarcastic, so uh... I don't know what to say about this."

"You... you do not need to worry about me," Dream said, "You deserve to know the whole truth, so I granted it to you."

The red and white pupiled skeleton nodded slowly, still unsure of how to react to this. Everyone of his villagers were so happy and upbeat all the time, so seeing the Leader in such a depressed and sad state... it was surprising. Especially to know what he had gone through. He had no idea what he was going into when he wanted the truth, but he certainly wasn't expecting this.

However, it did make sense. The empty hallways, how Dream never visits the village, why Nightmare was confused on the fight, why the legends never had any specific details of the fight, why Nightmare was always waiting for Cross when he went to sleep. It all pieced together into one large picture, one that didn't even include him for most of it. He was just a new Follower, somehow included into this tale by pure luck. It made him feel small and insignificant compared to what the story detailed, generations of time passing before he was even born.

But he'd still help, somehow.

Cross never noticed it before, but Dream sometimes squinted at things that weren't close to him. It also made sense now, Dream couldn't see.

"Hey," Cross said, reaching into the bag at his side.

He pulled out an item he never had use for before, a thin pair of glasses that were black and had no top to them.

"These were my Fathers," Cross explained, handing them to Dream, "One of the few things he left behind when he left me. I put it this bag and completely forgot about it until now, but here. You can use them."

Dream stared for a moment before looking up, blinking at Cross.

"Why are you giving these to me so suddenly?" Dream asked, his voice soft.

"So you can see people better when you get out again."

The Leader looked down at the object in hand, a soft, real smile plaguing at his face as he decided to indeed wear them, gently setting the glasses against his eye sockets.

"That sounds like a good idea," Dream whispered, "I... I can try to talk to people again. In real life."

That made Cross feel better about Dream.

Being immortal with someone you cared about sounded fun, yes, but being alone and immortal Cross would never wish upon a person, if he hated them he'd rather punch them instead. But being immortal, all alone, he would hate it.

Like Nightmare, never being able to talk to someone for one hundred years, or like Dream, who retreated into his castle because of a series of events that just left him broken.

Cross was a naturally curious and invasive person, since nothing ever happened that was interesting in his own life. But now that he had invaded on this, he felt like there was a purpose to his life, a reason of why he was there at that moment.

"Dream," He said, sitting straighter, "Do you know the cure to the sleeping potion?"

The person in question perked up at that question, raising an eye socket at the male across from his, of which he could see now clearly now due to the present which was presented to him moments ago.

"I actually do, yes," Dream spoke, "May I ask why?"

"I'm going to ask your permission to wake up Nightmare," Cross said with a determined look on his face.


	21. Chapter 21

Sometimes, when Cross was unable to go to sleep, not feeling very confident on why he should even sleep, he would eat an apple before going to bed. The flavor was sweet, he enjoyed apples.

So perhaps it was bound in fate from the very moment he was born when Dream held out a large, round red apple.

"Apples, they were infused with the sleeping potion," Dream explained, "It would wake up Nightmare. But... the curse would start spreading again after a few minutes."

"Thank you," Cross said softly, taking the apple and placing it into his bag.

"Make sure to be quick, with what you have to do," Dream spoke, "I do not want him to start to feel pain again."

"Nor do I," Cross agreed, closing his bag and slinging it over his shoulder as he turned to go look at Dream, "See you later, I guess."

Before the skeleton could react, the shorter drew him in for a hug, his newly obtained glasses pressing against his ribcage. The front door creaked open at that time from the force of the wind, some snow flowing past them and into the room, hitting Cross' back and completely missing Dream.

"We both know this is a goodbye," Dream whispered.

They both knew indeed.

Cross stared down at the brother of his lover, knowing of the tragedy hidden behind the skull. It was so unusual compared to the bright, smiling faces of his village before, with their sickening cheerful smiles and carefree attitudes. But maybe that life was all just a lie, that what was told to someone was not quite what it seemed. Of course, Cross had learned this lesson through his adventure.

Which was drawing to a close, he could sense it.

Dream let go and took a step back, the Leader smiling a real, soft smile. He looked more alive with that smile.

The snow was cold against his face as he turned to go look out into the white abyss that beckoned him from the warmth and safety of the castle. He could feel the cold air prickling at his bones, drawing him closer.

"Goodbye, Prince Dream," Cross said, looking back at him once more, "I'll tell Nightmare you said hello."

"Do that, please," The Prince spoke, intertwining his fingers at his waist in front of him, "I'll tell the villagers to deal with your crops and house."

"Welp, bye!" Cross said awkwardly, unsure of how to end the conversation.

He turned on his heels and started to trudge out of the castle, the bag at his waist feeling heavy against his side. Even though it only contained three items, it felt the heaviest it has ever been.

Maybe from the weight of how important the materials inside where.

When his hand rested on the doorframe, he took one last look behind him at the skeleton staring at him with sorrowful eye sockets. And, with that image in mind, he turned back and grabbed the door handle, pulling closed the door behind him.

His horse was where he had left it, standing confidently and strong in the snow breezing around it. The leash wasn't hard to untie, and Cross was on top of the animal in mere seconds, kicking the side to get a moveon.

"C'mon boy," He yelled at the horse, "We have someone to go save!"

~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Nightmare stood on a cliff overlooking a large open field, staring off into the distance. The sunset filled sky was mostly devoured by a darkness that consumed the horizon, goops of the substance covering the sky from the base and crawling over the fresh green grass, destroying everything it touched. The goo had remained still for years, but Nightmare could feel it twisting with impatience, knowing fully, just as he did, that soon he would be awake. Nightmare could almost feel the apple, thudding against Cross' side closer to him.

"Cross, please," Nightmare pleaded under his breath.

Pleaded for what was the question.


	22. Chapter 22

The castle loomed above Cross as he approached, the snow fluttering behind it threateningly. The trees around him seemed more threatening, less welcoming, and covered in vines. The castle too was covered in vines and leaves, wrapping around the base and traveling upwards. Spiderwebs covered parts of the castle, and the windows were covered in dust, dirt, and other residue on the inside.

Cross climbed off of his horse as he stared at the building in front of him, in awe of how grand, yet old, it was. The decorations were dark and brooding, having a sense of unpleasantness and mystery.

He loved the design.

Still gripping the leash, he turned towards the horse he borrowed and placed his hands at the rope around its neck, loosening it to pull it over the horses head and letting it drop down into the lush snow below. Then, reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a smaller apple, the extra in case his bag got lost in the snow somehow, and stuck it into the horses mouth, slowly petting its head.

"Go on, go back to your family back at the village," Cross said, lightly pushing the horse back in the direction where he came from.

It wouldn't snow for long, and the horse would be able to make it. He wouldn't need the horse with what he was about to do, anyway.

And so the horse turned and ran, running into the tree line and out of sight, never to be seen again by Cross. He knew that the horse would be able to make it to Dream, then Dream would take it back to the village. And he just gave it some food, it would have a journey to make, but one Cross wouldn't help it with anymore.

His own journey was coming to an end, after all.

The door took no resistance to open, in fact it even creaked open slightly as Cross' hand neared the dark brown wood.

Aware of his arrival and allowing him entrance.

The hallways were probably once nice and lively, but after years of no one to take care of them, they've been falling apart and left abandoned. A few spiders crawled away with a doughnut in the corner, crawling through a large hole in the wall into a nearby room. Snow flooded in from behind him, swirling down the hall and covering the rug with it's cold surface.

Cross had never really experienced snow before, or rain, for that matter. He could only remember one instance of both, it was often sunny and boring in his village. The only time he remembered the image of snow, it had been snowing the day his Father left him, standing alone in the door frame as his Father's figure disappeared into the swirling specks of white. And when it had rained, it was the night where he had pranked that one couple, they had run off through the rain together. So weather wasn't something he was familiar with.

But he had accepted the snow by now, so it was alright.

A loud squawk came from around a corner, Cross curiously walking up to the corner and glancing around the dark purple wall. There, on some rubble, a small and frail crow stood, staring directly at Cross with small, beady eyes.

"Guess fate sent you here, huh?" Cross asked, smiling sadly at the creature, "Funny, I've never actually hated crows until I met Nightmare."

The crow squawked once more and turned, sticking out its wings and beating down, flying down the hall and looking back at Cross before turning around another corner.

"This way it is," Cross said, starting to run after the crow.

The creature lead him down hallways and up stairs, snow pelting inside from open walls and broken windows. Clutter covered the ground, roots, dirt, and waste just laying about. Cross jumped over some stray items as he chased after the crow, not wanting to lose sight of it.

Down ahead, a door wide open ahead with bright red paint covering the outside seemed to draw him closer, and so did the crow, who flew right through the open doors.

When inside, Cross stopped as the animal landed on a nearby old table right in front of an open window, the snow pouring in from behind him.

And finally, there he was.

Nightmare.

The Leader was lying in the bed, a thick, old blanket draped over him. The black goo of which Dream had told him about covered his body, taking around 80% of it from what Cross could tell. His eye sockets were closed, but he looked ever so peaceful.

Well, Cross can't have that now, can he?

And so Cross drew out the apple from the depths of his bag, taking a bite out of it before approaching Nightmare, holding the large chunk of apple between his teeth.

"First kiss in real life, you ready?" Cross said, muffled by the apple piece, his face hovering over his lovers.

And he lowered it.

Cross had never kissed anyone, his Father never loved him enough and he too never loved enough, so it wasn't the bets. But that's alright. Anything he had with Nightmare was instantly better.

A slow hand suddenly snaked around his neck, making Cross' eye sockets shoot open to see the one remaining, visible eye socket staring back at him. Cross pulled away slightly, the taste of the apple fresh in his mouth as Nightmares grip tightened on the back of his neck.

"Heya," Nightmare whispered.

"Hi," Cross whispered back.

Before he could react, Nightmare slammed his hand forward, slamming their skulls together at a painful pace, making both of them yell out in pain. Cross pulled away before falling backwards onto his pelvis on the floor as Nightmare sat up, covering his skull where they impacted with both hands.

"I wanted to be conscious for my first kiss with you, you idiot!" Nightmare yelled.

"I had to wake you up by feeding you!" Cross yelled, "And you're the idiot, you hurt yourself doing that!"

"Hey, I've been asleep for over 100 years, I'm sorry if I'm a bit dusty!" Nightmare objected.

"You had 100 years to think of a way to react to someone waking you up with a kiss, and that's what you came up with," Cross groaned, standing up, "You're so sad, glad that I'm here to keep you from going berserk."

"Why did you wake me up?" Nightmare asked, turning on the bed and lowering his hands, "There's no cure to the curse. Look at me! Soon the pain is going to kick in again and I don't want that!"

Cross tossed his bag to the Prince of Darkness, it bouncing off of Nightmare's face and landing in his lap. After a glare at the skeleton standing in front of him, he curiously opened it to pull out a writing utensil and a piece of paper.

"I think Dream deserves to hear some words, straight from your hand," Cross explained, sitting down next to the skeleton, "He needs to hear a final goodbye."

Nightmare nodded at Cross before he moved to the dresser next to the bed, writing against the wooden surface to give a farewell note to his brother. As he did that, Cross simply watched, wrapping his arms around Nightmares rib cage and resting his skull on the Princes shoulder.

"You better be happy that I love your, or else I would've skull-butted us again," Nightmare grumbled, not ceasing his writing.

"I am very happy, trust me," Cross said.

Once the skeleton was done writing his final letter, he handed it to Cross.

"What are you planning on doing, exactly?" Nightmare asked, "Kill me?"

"You're too cute in order to do that," Cross said, smiling at Nightmare's faint blush that he could see through the black substance.

He went to the head of the bed and summoned a small bone attack, piercing the letter with the bone before sticking it into the wood, the wind howling with snow from the window.

"Dream's not going to see that," Nightmare said.

"He will, I told him that he should visit you," Cross said.

Cross had carried two things in his pocket, not just one.

And so he emerged out a small vial of a certain sleeping potion leftover of which Dream had gifted him, showing it to his skeleton lover.

"Putting me back to sleep, huh?" Nightmare asked, pulling slightly at the blanket, "But, you'll still visit me during night, right?"

"I'm putting myself to sleep too, Nightmare."

The snow raged outside as the crow squawked louder than ever.

"What, why?" Nightmare asked, grabbing Cross' hands in his own, "Don't you want to go live your life? See the world?"

"Any life without you isn't a life, since you are my world," Cross said quietly, placing a hand on Nightmares skull.

Nightmare blushed before sighing, nodding.

"Then we'll both go to sleep, together," Nightmare said, uncapping the vial with Cross.

Snow filled the room more, the crow flapping its wings to get off of the table as it viewed the sight of the two skeletons, each taking a turn to drink half of the potion before the vial fell, it shattering next to the apple with a single bite out of it.

And with one final kiss, this time engaged by Nightmare, the two fell against the bed, the snow roaring and the crow watching before both retreated out the window, leaving the lovers together.

Cross stared at Nightmare with drooping eye sockets as he pulled him in for a hug, whispering to him one final, in real life whisper.

"I love you, so much, Nightmare."


	23. Chapter 23

_Rumors speak of the Prince of Light, sealed inside the depths of his castle by the lost of his beloved brother, the Prince of Darkness. Though none dare to travel the journey to the castle of light, the way is clear for anyone who would be willing to go._

_So the castle remained unvisited, for hundreds of years._

_Until one day a traveler, blinded by the feelings of love, opened the doors to the castle._

Dream was never one to have hope.

He never really cared about not talking to people anymore, it wasn't very important to life. He would wonder about the castle aimlessly, before the seeds of loneliness would consume his mind, for what seemed like a mere moment, until he went to bed the next night with the light from his candles decorating his room.

The immortal skeleton never really belonged in large crowds, he felt like he was being closed in. While the other skeletons were fierce and fearless, he was scared and afraid. He knew not if he would ever gain the courage and childlike substance he had before, but he hoped one day he would be able to enjoy life like he did before. Every day, others would go to sleep with whispers of good dreams, while he would go to sleep with no whispers for which he had no one to receive whispers from.

It had been evident from the start that Dream not the Dream others knew. The villagers all followed the mighty rule of the Prince of light, an immortal brother of the holy family, with the name of Dream. The followers of Dream, born with souls filled with light and purity, filled the village focused solely on worshipping Dream. Dream had built their empire from the ground up, warding off the spirits of evil with his holy powers and keeping the citizens safe. He was their god, they were born to serve Dream, thus the name Dreamer.

But Dream wasn't the Dream from the stories. That Dream had courage and took action, he did not. Dream used light magic to fight against his brother, he did not. Dreams was pure and happy constantly, and he definitely was not with his pressing depression in his soul.

Perhaps that's why he didn't feel at ease or at home either, because he wasn't born to have a purpose in his life. He was born for something else, something that his castle would not be able to provide.

However, that didn't stop him from leaving the place of which he remained in for years.

The sun was practically blinding, and Dream instinctively stuck up his hand to cover his eye sockets from the piercing sun rays. He wished for the cool winds of winter to sweep him away in the snow, leaving everything behind, to never worry of his troubles again. But, due to his circumstances of birth, that was undoubtedly never going to come.

It was only a few minutes in when he stumbled across the horse Cross rode mere years earlier, staring down at him from its towering height compared to his own, since it had grown from the last time Dream saw it. Then, the horse lowered its mouth lower before placing a half eaten apple onto the ground in front of him before jogging off.

It saved some of the apple for Dream.

And so Dream pressed forward with the apple, cutting off chunks and handing it to some random creatures he stumbled across. The journey was long, and he was in no type of rush, so why not give it some others who needed it?

He seen the castle few times before, but his fear of being near people made him retreat into the depths of his castle. The building was in more ruin than before, but it was built to be sturdy, it could go for thousands of years before it would actually start to fall apart.  
  


The lack of a Prince knew his way to the room, making twists and turns, walking past random items strewn across the floor. A pile of snow he walked past, past a pair of broken glasses, past a star cutout, past a potato, and past a small drawing of a crow. The evidence of a snowstorm lingered inside, but it only complemented the decorations, instead of bringing down the appeal of the castle it just made it more intriguing, more interesting. It was a sign, that after so much effort to take down the castle, it stood strong.

It was nice, to know that certain things are strong enough to resist what Dream cannot.

Apples started to appear in the hallway of which the door sat, leading to the room where his Brother was stored. Dream stepped over a few, wondering of why there were apples everywhere all of the sudden.

The answer was inside.

Dream gasped as he gazed up, staring at the towering tree in front of him. Somehow, Dream didn't know how, but a large apple tree sat in the middle of the room, it's branches twisting inside of the room, the trunk running through the floor, and a window broken from a branch. Large, red ripe apples littered the branches, like none Dream has ever seen.

And of course, the bed where his brother slept.

With his lover.

They were holding each other in their arms, resting peacefully together in the bed. Their fingers were intertwined between them, and they were pressed together.

Peaceful and happy, at last.

Well, Dream could have that.

He was about to turn away before he noticed a piece of paper embedded into the wall with a small, frail bone, most likely an attack summoned by one of the two skeletons. The paper and ink looked old, but Dream approached it and carefully removed it from the wall.

_Dream,_

_Heya, been awhile, huh? Like over 100 years since I could have a Follower tell you hi, sorry about that. I didn't want to leave you alone, but I hope you have found some new friends. Obviously they would rather hang out with me, since I'm the cooler twin since apparently there's a legend about my evilness, at least that's what Cross told me, but you're still pretty cool. You deserve to find a new life. If you could, leave us be. There's no need to find a cure, I have Cross to keep my company now. He may be a bit annoying at times, but I really do love him. And I don't want you to stress about finding some sort of cure, let's face it, this curse doesn't have a cure. I don't think it ever has, or ever will. You could share your findings with others, but I'm happy now. I won't be able to feel pain in my sleep, and I can spend all eternity with Cross. And knowing you will be able to move on, that'll make me happy. So, please, for both of us, talk to others. Be social. Make friends again. You know I usually don't get so stupidly emotional, so seriously, move on and forget about me. Cross and I have so many things to do together, we can even create a family from the will of our souls. Why don't you create a new family, and tell them how amazingly cool and legendary their Uncle is? But I'll be fine, you don't need to worry. And maybe even grab an apple in every once in awhile, you might need it. Just stay strong. I know it'll be hard, I will miss you a lot, and I'm sure you miss me too. I love you Dream, stay safe and hopeful for me, please._

_Goodbye_

Dream feel down to his knees, staring at the paper with tears of sorrow and joy dripping down his face. He hiccuped loudly as apples started to fall off of the tree, starting to roll towards him.

"I love you t-too, Nightmare!" Dream sobbed, hugging the paper to his chest as the sun set in the distance, turning into night once more.

And as the apples stopped near Dream, his soul started to light up once more, but not from sorrow, but from pure happiness.

And so this story draws to an end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> But yeah, there was a lot of symbolism in this story, so uh, this is going to be a long list.
> 
> Sun/Light=Loss of happiness (Dream being the Prince of Light because he lost his happiness, Nightmare)
> 
> Moon/Night/Dark=Happiness of Nightmare's presence in both Dream and Cross' life (They all see the world in a different view than others, but still can enjoy it, even if it is dark and they are unable to see. At the end of the story, they can't see the world anymore because of the potion, but they still enjoy it with each other nethertheless. This can have multiple meanings)
> 
> Leaders and Followers Relationship=Friend love in a sense
> 
> Apples=Hope (Nightmare was unable to reach hope at first, but with the help of Cross or Dream, he was able to)
> 
> Dream talking formally=Dream blaming his ignorance for Nightmare's curse
> 
> Dream opening up curtains= Dream opening up to Cross and to the outside world again
> 
> Denying the Potatoes=Cross denying his old life, not wanting to return
> 
> Blessing game=How ironic it was for Nightmare to be blessed but only met a cursed fate
> 
> Snow=Impending death
> 
> Thunderstorms=Someone falling in love
> 
> Dream needing glasses=Dream not seeing a happy future
> 
> Crow=Willing death
> 
> The horse giving the apple to Dream=How hope can be given from one person to another
> 
> The castle being worn but still strong=Reliance to grief, how people could be hurt but still stand strong
> 
> Apple tree=Cross' and Nightmares love can grow hope for others
> 
> So, yeah, a lot of symbolism, but apples was one of the biggest ones. I feel like apples are extremely important to this. They are what Dream and Nightmare were born from, they're what woke up Nightmare, and they represent hope. They play a big role, overall. Like how important hope is to our stories of our lives, get it?
> 
> There's also a lot of meaning that can be drawn from this story, too. Like, how love in different forms if very important to a person, friendship, family, and romantic, and how everyone strives for it. How important hope is to people, and how just a little bit of hope can help someone, and how sometimes we need others to help reach it. There's also the sense of to not push yourself towards a goal so much that you forget about the world around you and start to hurt others and yourself. Not to mention how rumors can just hurt the people involved and spiral them downwards. Or maybe about how people do crazy things for love, and that you should have some self control before you could ruin someone's life. There's also the idea that someone's childhood could be lost through trauma.
> 
> So yeah, this book had a lot of thought put into it, and I think the finished product turned out pretty good.


End file.
